NEW DELHI: Fakhar Zaman‘s scintillating knock of 67 runs off 52 deliveries on Thursday propelled the Desert Vipers to a five-wicket victory over the MI Emirates in a thrilling encounter at the Dubai International Stadium.
Zaman’s innings, coupled with Alex Hales‘s 34 and Sam Curran‘s crucial 28, proved pivotal in chasing down the target of 160 within 19.1 overs.
After electing to bat first, the MI Emirates got off to a promising start, but faltered in the middle overs.
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However, a late flourish from Kieron Pollard (36 off 23) and Romario Shepherd‘s blistering 16 off 6 balls helped them post a competitive total of 159/6.
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In response, the Desert Vipers’ openers, Hales and Zaman, provided a solid foundation with a 51-run partnership. Despite losing a few wickets, Zaman remained steadfast, striking four sixes and three fours en route to his half-century. His 65-run stand with Curran shifted the momentum in the Vipers’ favour.
Although Zaman fell in the 17th over, Sherfane Rutherford’s cameo of 21 off 8 balls sealed the victory for the Desert Vipers.
In the post-match presentation, Fakhar Zaman, the Player of the Match, acknowledged the challenges posed by the spinners and credited his team’s strategy of playing out their overs and taking the game deep.
“I think the fast bowlers were easy, but we were struggling against spinners. We just planned to play out their overs and take the game deep. It was because of the way the bowlers were bowling and the leg-side boundary was big, so I was looking for runs on the shorter boundary,” said Fakhar as the Vipers maintained the winning streak after their third consecutive victory in the season.
MI Emirates skipper Nicholas Pooran expressed satisfaction with their total of 160, considering the tricky nature of the pitch.
“I felt we were in the game; we were happy with 160, the way the pitch was playing, it seemed to be very tricky. It’s still young in the tournament, Mousley got us two wickets, we went searching for another, but we didn’t get it. Credit to Fakhar Zaman and Sam Curran, they played really well,” Pooran added.
