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Abu Dhabi Knight Riders defeated the Gulf Giants by 37 runs to record their second victory of the ILT20 Season 3 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Michael Pepper's half-century helped the Knight Riders to 176/9, despite Aayan Afzal Khan's outstanding bowling effort of four wickets for 16 runs, which set a new UAE player record in the DP World ILT20. To limit the Giants, Jason Holder, Ali Khan, and Ibrar Ahmad each took two wickets.
The Giants lost both of their openers during the powerplay, indicating that their batting was having trouble early on. In the first over, David Willey got rid of Adam Lyth, and in the fourth over, Ibrar Ahmad hit captain James Vince for 14 runs. By the end of the powerplay, the Giants were down 40/2. When Ibrahim Zadran was bowled by Sunil Narine after scoring 24 runs from 22 deliveries and Jordan Cox left for 10 runs, the situation deteriorated.
At the half, the Giants were struggling at 62/4. Shimron Hetmyer and Gerhard Erasmus tried to save the innings, but Hetmyer was dismissed by Ali Khan for 20 runs off of 15 balls. They were at 96/6 in 14.1 overs after Erasmus, who had scored 24 runs from 23 balls, was dismissed by Jason Holder. The Giants were restricted at 139/8 after Holder dismissed Mark Adair for 19 runs, ending the chase. The Knight Riders had an exciting powerplay earlier with 60/2.
Andries Gous and Kyle Mayers both scored 17 and 19 runs before Gous was caught behind by Wahidullah Zadran and Mayers was bowled by Tymal Mills. Batting at four, Michael Pepper got off to a fast start, hitting three straight boundaries off Mark Adair. He formed a 50-run partnership with Joe Clarke in 33 balls after reaching fifty off 31 balls with six fours and a six.
Aayan Afzal Khan's incredible spell of 4/16, which surpassed Zuhaib Zuhair's previous UAE record of 4/22, stopped the Knight Riders' momentum. In 15 overs, he reduced Knight Riders to 131/6 after dismissing Joe Clarke (24), Alishan Sharafu, Andrew Russell (12), and Sunil Narine. Evans, Holder, and Willey all made fleeting appearances in the last overs before Pepper was caught behind off Adair for 57. The Knight Riders scored 176/9 with two wickets taken by Blessing Muzarabani.
"When I went in, when the ball was hard, it came on nicely. Not too much bounce in the wicket. Through the innings, it got slower and slower and started turning a little bit more. There is a lot of instinct that goes in, waiting for your areas and then going from there. We have a long batting order; everyone can hit it out of the ground, but it still must be the batters that score runs," said Player of the Match Michael Pepper
"We were always thinking two steps ahead and there were more hands on deck. We could have gone closer to 200 after our start. Losing wickets in clusters denied us and that is something we can work on moving ahead. Our batting depth, it is a good problem. You have players batting down the order who might be playing higher otherwise. The guys are willing, and it is about them trying to make the best of whatever position they get," said Sunil Narine after winning the match.
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