Ali stars as rampant Bulls stomp Devils; Qalandars continue winning juggernaut

Through deadly spells by medium pacers Ali and Amad Butt, Delhi Bulls restricted Pune Devils to a paltry 57 for 7 to ensure an emphatic eight-wicket win in the second match of the second day of the Super League stage of the Alubond Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Ali produced a spell of three wickets giving away no runs while Butt backed him with two wickets for 22 runs.  After sharing five wickets between them, with Fidell Edwards too chipping in with one wicket, Pune lost their first six wickets in the first five overs. None of the later batsmen could lift Pune to a bigger total.

Chasing the score, Bulls opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a quick 26 to speed up the race to the target. With unbeaten knocks of 13 and 14 respectively from Evin Lewis and Sherfane Rutherford, Bulls won the match with 32 balls to spare.

Earlier, Bulls won the toss and promptly elected to field. Pune opener Kennar Lewis picked two consecutive boundaries off the first two balls from Amad Butt.

Opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore also hit Butt for a boundary through the covers off the fourth ball to get 14 runs off the over. Lewis hit Fidel Edwards over long on for a six, but while attempting another one off the next ball got caught at mid-wicket for 15.

Cadmore hit Butt for a six over mid-wicket. Two balls later Butt clean bowled next man Chadwick Walton for 1.

Pune slipped into trouble when Cadmore on 11 was given out caught by Ali off Butt at covers despite the replays of the catch being inconclusive.

Ali bowled a deadly fifth over by having Alex Davies caught behind for 3. He also removed Nasir Hossain and Karan off successive balls. At the half way mark, Pune were struggling at 35 for 6.

Devon Thomas could get only one boundary off Bravo’s sixth over. Shiraz Ahmed not only gave away just two runs but also clean bowled Ahmed Raza for 4 off his last ball.
Shiraz made it tougher for Pune by bowling another brilliant over giving away just five runs. Tom Abell bowled the last over, giving away just two runs to restrict Pune to a mere 57 for 7 in 10 overs.

Chasing the small target, the only point of interest was the number of overs Bulls would need to reach the target. Gurbaz pulled the first ball of the innings from Mohammad Amir for a six while Lewis hit him for a boundary off the last ball.

In the second over from Munis Ansari, Gurbaz hit a boundary over the covers and another over the bowler’s head to take 15 runs off the over.

Ansari then went on to pick the wicket of Ravi Bopara in the fourth over by having him caught at extra cover for 2. Bulls won the match before the half way mark, off the fourth ball of the fourth over.

Meanwhile, Qalandars extended their winning streak in the Alubond Abu Dhabi T10 Super League with a four-wicket victory over Maratha Arabians on Tuiesday.

It was another strong all-round performance from Qalandars who restricted Arabians to 101 for 5 in 10 overs despite Mohammad Hafeez’s 44 runs. Their accurate left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir picked three wickets for 22 runs.

Chasing the target, Qalandars managed to maintain their run flow despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Through quick knocks from Sharjeel Khan (28), Sohail Akhtar (20) and Ben Dunk’s (26n.o), they sailed smoothly towards their target with 11 balls to spare.

Arabians opener Mohammad Hafeez began by picking two boundaries off Sultan Ahmed’s first over. The second over from experienced Pakistan bowler Sohail Tanvir was a tight one as usual and yielded just one boundary to Abdul Shakoor.

In the third over, Sultan got his UAE teammate Shakoor caught at deep square leg by Asif Ali for 11.

Hafeez and Laurie Evans tried their best to force the run flow but managed only seven runs from Ahmed Daniyal’s over. Hafeez managed to hit Shahid Afridi for a boundary and a six to pick 14 runs off the over. At the half way mark, Arabians reached the 50 run mark. Evans attempted a slog sweep off Daniyal and was bowled for 9. This brought in Shoaib Malik, who flicked the first ball he faced for a boundary. To tighten the fun flow, Qalandars introduced Chris Jordan and he gave away just five runs. Malik picked a boundary off Afridi who bowled the eighth over. Hafeez too hit Afridi for a boundary to get 14 runs off that over.

When Chris Jordan again bowled brilliantly giving away just eight runs in the ninth over, Arabians’ hopes of reaching the 100 run mark began to fade. Hafeez hit Tanvir’s first delivery of the last over for a six over mid-wicket and fell to the next ball getting caught by Sharjeel Khan at deep square leg for 44.

Tanvir dismissed next man Mukhtar Ali for 4 and Malik for 23 with the fourth and fifth deliveries respectively.  Mosaddek Hossain hit Tanvir’s last ball of the last over for a boundary through a reverse sweep to steer his team past the 100 run mark. To contain Qaladar’s strong batting line up and defend a total of 101 for 5 wasn’t easy.