Bopara, Little too much for Warriors as Knight Riders close in on playoff berth

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Ravi Bopara and Josh Little shared seven wickets between them to help Abu Dhabi Knight Riders set up a seven-wicket victory over Sharjah Warriors in their DP World ILT20 match in Sharjah on Monday.

After Little ripped through the middle-order, Bopara wiped out the tail with a four-wicket haul as Knight Riders skittled out Warriors for a paltry 75.

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Openers Joe Clarke and Michael Pepper added 54 runs for the first wicket and titled the game in their team’s favour as Knight Riders chased down the target for the loss three wickets with 9.5 overs to spare.

With the victory, Knight Riders inched closer to qualify for the playoffs. They procured 10 points with five wins from their eight games. 

UAE pacer Muhammad Jawadullah picked up three wickets for Warriors. He accounted for the dismissals of Clarke, Pepper and Alishan Sharafu.

Warriors were a bit unlucky as Pepper got a reprieve when batting on one. He was clean bowled by Junaid Siddique but the umpire called it a no-ball.

Both the openers capitalised on the chance and took the score to 54 in five overs. Clarke hit a 25-ball 34 with the help of six fours while Pepper scored 18 off 16 balls.

Earlier, Warriors’ woes with the batting continued particularly in the opening partnership. Both their openers Niroshan Dickwella and Johnson Charles once again failed to give a sound start to their team. Both the batsmen threw away their wickets to reckless shots.

After Willey triggered the collapse, Little tore apart the middle-order. Dickwella could not get to the pitch of the ball. He tried to flick the ball towards the square leg but managed to get only the top edge and Sharafu completed a clean catch.

Dickewella could not open his account against Gulf Giants on the previous day in their last match in Dubai. Josh Little uprooted the stumps of Liam Livingstone as the Warriors lost the second wicket with just four runs on the board. Livingstone dragged the ball on to his stumps.

Warriors were in deep trouble and they needed major rebuilding work. To inflict more misery on Warriors, Willey got rid of Charles, who holed out to Evans at short-midwicket. He tried to loft the ball over the midwicket but could not get the enough power behind the shot as Evans completed a reflex action catch.

Warriors were in tatters and needed someone to play a big knock to pull them out of trouble. With three wickets down for seven runs, the onus of rebuilding the innings and taking them through once again fell on the shoulder of captain Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who scored a fighting 35 against Giants in the previous match.

Kohler-Cadmore once again got down to the repairing work to control the damage. But Sean Williams became the second victim of Little. He hit the bowler back in the face with a horizontal bat. He could not quite get hold of the shot and Little completed a brilliant catch off his own bowling after a little fumble in the first attempt.

Sharjah were in a rut and with every wicket falling down, their chances of qualification for the playoffs were diminishing. The Warriors were at the bottom of the table after the defeat in the last game and needed to win all their remaining matches.

Little struck again and this time to all but end the hopes of the Warriors for a come-from-behind victory. He flummoxed Warriors captain Kohler-Cadmore with an out-swinging delivery.

Kohler-Cadmore failed to get in the line of the ball, exposing his off-stumps completely. The ball brushed past the off-stumps as Warriors were pushed on the backfoot completely.

Little exploited the conditions well and got the ball to move to either side with the same ease as he returned with a figure of 3/17 from his four overs.

Imad Wasim of Pakistan had Joe Denly caught before Ravi Bopara struck in quick succession down the order to make it 66/8 from 45/5. He dismantled the stumps of Daniel Sams, who was waging the lone battle with a fighting 19-ball 24. His innings was studded with two boundaries.

Bopara also sent back James Fuller before Maheesh Theekana was taken by Russell. He rattled the stumps of England’s Adil Rashid to pick up his fourth wicket of the match and fold the Warriors’ innings for 75.