The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders held their nerve to secure a well-earned four-wicket win over the Gulf Giants at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Openers Alex Hales (46 off 39) and Phil Salt (35 off 24) made light work of the run-chase, blazing to the target with four balls to spare and move up the points table to fourth place from sixth.
Needing 166 runs for the win, Salt and Hales set up a partnership of 61 runs in 44 balls. They were helped by a late flurry of runs from Sherfane Rutherford (30 off 22) and Andre Russell (21* off 13), who negated Tabraiz Shamsi’s three for 23. With the ball, Piyush Chawla took four wickets for 27 runs, which ensured Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 72 off 45 balls for the Giants, including four fours and five sixes, went in vain.
Salt set the tone early with back-to-back boundaries in the opening over and went on to hit Fred Klaassen for 17 runs in the third over, bringing up 8,000 runs for the English batter in T20 cricket. However, the Giants gained control in the second half of the powerplay. Despite this, Salt and Hales led the charge as ADKR scored 53/0.
The Giants pulled things back after the powerplay through Shamsi, who broke the opening stand by removing Salt and then Liam Livingstone to leave ADKR two down. Hales held the chase together, while Livingstone added a quick 12 off 8 before falling.
The Knight Riders reached the halfway mark at 82/2, needing 84 from the final 10 overs.
Hales and Sherfane Rutherford kept ADKR on course, with Rutherford reducing the deficit by smashing a four and back-to-back sixes off Moeen Ali in the 14th over. Just as the Knight Riders looked comfortable at 123/2, Chris Wood struck with a key breakthrough, removing Hales. With Alishan Sharafu joining Rutherford in the 15th over, ADKR reached 127/3, needing 39 from the final five overs.
Shamsi then removed Sharafu (1 off 2) to put pressure on the Knight Riders, but Russell kept his cool before breaking free with a crucial six off Matthew Forde in the 18th over. Fred Klaassen removed Jason Holder (9 off 7) to set up a tense final over, but Russell had the last word, launching Chris Wood over the ropes to seal a four-wicket win with four balls to spare.
Earlier in the game, Gurbaz set the tempo early, taking 13 off Jason Holder in the third over with a six and a four. Olly Stone provided the breakthrough in the fifth over by removing Pathum Nissanka (17 off 12), but James Vince (16 off 11) kept the momentum going with three quick boundaries. The Gulf Giants closed the powerplay at 59/1.
The Afghan batter continued to anchor the innings through the middle overs. Piyush Chawla dismissed Vince to slow things briefly, but Moeen Ali (16 off 14) settled in well, while Gurbaz brought up his half-century in the 11th over off 32 balls.
After attacking Stone for a six and a four in the 14th over, the Giants lost momentum quickly. Chawla outfoxed Ali with a googly, before Ajay Kumar removed Gurbaz following a stunning Sharafu dive at deep midwicket. With five overs remaining, the Giants were 132/4.
Chawla tightened the screws further in the 16th over, dismissing Azmatullah Omarzai (6 off 8) and bowling Matthew Forde for a golden duck, leaving the Giants at 135/6. Asif Khan (14* off 13) added late runs, but Holder and Ajay Kumar kept things tight as the Giants finished on 165/7.
Player of the match Piyush Chawla said, “When I started out, I never imagined cricket would become my profession — I played purely for the joy of it, and that passion is still there. The googly has always come naturally to me, so right now I’m spending more time working on my leg-breaks, experimenting with angles and a slightly more side-on action to get extra turn and put doubt in the batter’s mind.”
Gulf Giants skipper James Vince said, “At one stage, we were looking at 190 or even 200, so in the end we were probably 20–30 runs short. Without those extra runs, the pressure on them early in the chase was minimal and the required rate stayed under control. I was proud of how we fought back after a tough start — it’s easy to drop off when a team scores quickly in the powerplay, but Tabraiz Shamsi’s wickets brought us back into the game and gave us belief.”
India
