After four consecutive losses in the ongoing T10 League 2021-22 in Abu Dhabi, Northern Warriors finally opened their account with a 19-run win over Chennai Braves. After losing the toss, Warriors were invited to bat first. The openers Kennar Lewis and Moeen Ali smashed Braves bowler all over the park and the duo put an unbelievable opening stand of 106 runs in just 6.1 overs.
Coincidentally, both scored 49 runs after facing identical number of deliveries (19). In his 49-run knock, the wicketkeeper-batter Lewis hit six fours and three mighty sixes while England’s all-rounder, Moeen smashed three fours and five sixes. The pair of Lewis-Ali crossed the 100-run mark within the sixth over of the innings. 84 out of 101 runs were scored via boundaries.
After the departure of the Northern openers in the same over bowled by Mark Deyal, contributions from the skipper Rovman Powell (28 off 12) and Samit Patel (17 off 9) empowered Warriors to post the mammoth total of 152/4 in 10 overs.
Curtis Campher who had taken a hat-trick in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2021 in Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE), took two wickets for Braves. On the other hand, Deyal who dismissed both the openers of Warriors was the pick of the bowlers as he conceded just 10 runs in his quota of two overs.
In response, it was a contrasting start from Braves openers as they lost their opener Mohammad Shahzad in the second over itself. Handy contributions from Bhanuka Rajapaksa (34 off 13), Angelo Perera (14 off 7), skipper Ravi Bopara (30 off 13) and the late fireworks from Khalid Shah (18 off 6) kept them in the game for a significant amount of time. However, in the seventh over Oshane Thomas' hat-trick derailed the run chase as Braves lost their fifth consecutive game of the tournament. The Bopara-led team is yet to register their first victory this season.
For his blistering innings of 49, Lewis was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’.
