Holden and Hasaranga shine as Vipers down Giants by five wickets

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Riding on Max Holden’s 70 after the outstanding bowling performances of Wanindu Hasaranga and Sam Curran, the Desert Vipers defeated the Gulf Giants by five wickets in an ILT20 match, which will be remembered best for the battle between the Curran brothers.

Hasaranga and Sam shared six wickets between them, conceding 10 and 28 runs, respectively, as the Vipers restricted the Giants to 129/8 and breached the target with one over to spare.

Defending, the Giants did try to make some inroads through their bowlers but ran out of steam as Holden smacked an unbeaten 70 to steer the Vipers to safety.

Alex Hales, Fakhar Zaman, and Dan Lawrence were sent back by the Giants’ bowlers before Sam and Holden added 45 runs to bring the equation down to 35 needed off 42 balls.

After the departure of Sam, Holden shared an unbeaten stand of 32 runs for the sixth wicket with Adam Hose to complete the formalities. His knock was studded with nine fours and a six.

Meanwhile, the sibling’s rivalry was at the forefront in the match. The match-up between the Curran brothers — Sam and Tom — spiced up the game. Both the Curran brothers led the charge for their respective teams. One took three wickets, and the other smashed an unbeaten 65 as both the brothers dominated the match completely.

Earlier, Vipers bowlers wreaked havoc as they ripped through the Giants’ batting line-up. Sam and Hasaranga proved the Vipers’ decision of fielding first right after winning the toss.

The Giants were off to a decent start and looked set to post a fighting total as the openers, James Vince and Tom Alsop, added 25 runs for the first wicket — a start that is considered as good in T20 cricket.

It was Sam, who triggered the collapse by getting rid of Vince to break the opening partnership. He had the Giants’ skipper caught by Mohammad Amir.

Hasaranga also sprang into action and rattled the stumps of Alsop, who was the architect of the Giants’ win against Sharjah Warriorz in the last match, to make it 35/2.

The dismissal of Alsop opened the floodgates for the Vipers bowlers. They pounced on the Giants’ batsmen like a hungry cat has been let loose among the pigeons.

Khuzaima Tanveer, who made headlines with a four-wicket haul in his debut match at the ILT20, sent back the danger man Shimron Hetmyer as the Giants lost the third wicket.

Hasaranga picked up the wicket of Jordan Cox within a space of four runs to reduce the Giants to 44/4 from 40/1. Giants were losing the wickets in bulks. None of their batsmen seemed to have an answer for a charged-up Viper’s attack, which was stinging them continuously. With just 45 runs on the board and the top four batsmen back in the pavilion, the Giants needed someone to play a sheet-anchor role to mend the faltering innings.

But their batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores. They were getting out to reckless shots, and each wicket was adding extra pressure to the next batsman.

Sam caught Gerhard Erasmus off his own bowling to heap more misery on the Giants, making it 46/5. Tim David, Chris Jordan, and Mark Adair were dismissed cheaply in quick succession.

David holed out to Hasaranga off Ferguson, and Jordan was trapped in front of the stumps by the wily Sri Lankan spinner before Sam had Adair caught behind the stumps.

The fear of getting out for the lowest total ever —74 — in the tournament was hovering over the head of the Giants. There was an abject surrender by the Giants’ batsmen, and they looked set to be all out for a paltry total of under 80.

But Tom had different plans. He decided to go against the tide. Instead of playing timidly, he put up a brave front and decided to take the bull by its horn.

He adapted himself to the policy of ‘attack is the best defence’ and started cutting loose. He took the charge in his hands and shared an unbeaten partnership of 68 runs with the UAE’s Aaya Afzal Khan.

Tom kept the strike in his hand most of the time, as Aayan’s contribution in the partnership was of only six runs. Tom changed his gears in the 15th over and hit Sam for a boundary to take the pressure off.

He took 11 runs off Amir, who went wicket-less, before plundering 16 runs in the penultimate over bowled by his brother Sam. He raced to his fifty in 29 balls with a boundary in the same over.

Tom’s knock was studded with nine hits to the fence and one over it. He remained unbeaten on 65 off 35 deliveries, helping the Giants post a total of 129/8 in their allotted 20 overs.