Bowlers power Vipers to the top with triumph over Giants

Lockie Ferguson and Mohammad Amir shared five wickets between them to help Desert Vipers set up a six-wicket victory against Gulf Giants in their ILT20 match in Dubai on Tuesday.

Vipers restricted Giants to a paltry total of 119/9 and achieved the target with 2.2 overs to spare to notch up the second win from as many games.

With the victory, the Vipers moved to the top of the table with four points. Ferguson took 3-22 while Ami picked up two, conceding 23.

Defending a small total, the Giants did try to make some inroads through their bowlers but could not thwart the Vipers from going past the target.

Giants’ Mark Adair got rid of Fakhar Zaman and Dan Lawrence within a space of two deliveries to ignite the hopes of a victory, but Alex Hales and Sam Curran added 49 runs for the third wicket to tilt the game in Viper’s favour.

Viper lost a couple of wickets in quick succession again as Giants started fancying their chances of a come-from-behind victory.

But Curran and Sherfane Rutherford added 55 runs for the fifth wicket to put all the doubts to rest. Rutherford smacked a blitzkrieg 18-ball 40 with the help of three boundaries and as many sixes while Curran remained unbeaten on 42.

Earlier, James Vince smashed an unbeaten 76 off 62 deliveries to help the Giants save blushes as the wickets kept tumbling on the other end. The Vipers bowlers gave a fiery start as they ripped through the top order of the Giants.

It was former Pakistani pace spearhead Amir, who triggered the collapse. He trapped Adam Lyth in front of the stumps to give the Vipers their first breakthrough as the Giants lost their first wicket with just two runs on the board.

Giants kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals and could never recover. Their batsmen failed to put up any kind of resistance against a charged-up attack of the Vipers.

James Vince played a couple of big shots in a bid to remove the pressure. He added 21 runs for the second wicket to take the score to 23 before Ferguson struck for Vipers.

Ferguson had Rehan Ahmed caught by Curran. Rehan failed to read a slower delivery and ended up miscuing a shot, which landed straight in the hands of the fielder on the long-on.

Jordan Cox fell prey to Curran. He tried to pull away a short-pitched delivery and got a thick edge. The umpire was not convinced, but a very confident Ferguson asked for a review, which went in their favour as the Giants lost the third wicket.

With three batsmen back in the pavilion, the Giants needed someone to play a big knock and anchor the faltering innings. But apart from Vince, no other batsmen could show any kind of resistance.

Giants were in dire need of a big partnership to post a fighting total. But to their woes, Hasaranga gave them another jolt as he rattled the stumps of Ollie Robinson, who failed to open his account even.

Vince was waging a lone battle on the other end as wickets kept on falling in quick succession. Every time the Giants tried to take a stride forward, they were pegged back by two by the Vipers’ bowlers, who were dominating the game.

Shimron Hetmyer and Adair were the next two batsmen, who became the victims of Ferguson. Hetmyer tried to chase a delivery outside the off-stumps. He could not get enough bat on it. Naseer completed a clean catch running backward.

The problems were compounding for the Giants as they failed to get the partnership going. Their batsmen struggled to convert the starts into big totals. Six batsmen could not manage to reach the two-figure mark.

Two balls later, Ferguson struck again to get rid of Adair, who holed out to Suri at midwicket as the Giants lost the sixth wicket for 50.

Vince needed someone to give him company at the crease so that they could take the score to a respectable total. UAE prodigy Aayan Afzal Khan added a valuable 33 runs with Vince for the seventh wicket as the duo took the score to 83.

Giants looked set to post a total of around 120, but the tragedy struck this time around in the form of Wood. He broke the partnership to push Giants on the back foot completely. Aayan ducked to avoid a short-pitched delivery, which took the top edge of the bat and landed in the safe hands of Naseer.

After the dismissal of Aayan, Vince changed his gears and shared a 30-run stand with Tymal Mills. He brought up his fifty with a couple in the 18th over. Vince took 13 runs off the 18th over with the help of a six and a four. He remained not out and took the score to 119/9 with a fighting knock.