New Zealand’s left-arm pacer Trent Boult once again showed that he has plenty left in the tank. Boult made Abu Dhabi Knight Riders' batters dance to his tunes with the new ball taking three wickets and conceding just 14 runs from four overs. MI Emirates' left-arm bowlers wreaked havoc at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi until Andre Russell saved them from getting bowled out for the lowest total in ILT20’s history with his 25-ball 48.
However, it was not Boult who drew first blood. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein dismissed Alishan Sharafu in the third over. Boult in his second over struck twice to send Michael Pepper and Sam Hain back to the dressing room. In his next over, he dismissed Andries Bous. After the powerplay overs, Hosein got the better of Laurie Evans as Knight Riders were struggling at 22/5.
Boult in his last over conceded his first boundary. In the ninth over, Russell hit the first six of the innings off Fazalhaq Farooqi. On the last ball, the Afghan bowler dismissed Imad Wasim. Muhammad Rohit Khan made matters worse despite five wides in an over. Ravi Bopara and David Willey fell cheaply to Rohid Khan. Sunil Narine could not make an impact either and became Rohit Khan's third victim.
In the next over, Russell hit Farooqi for a six and a four. He went after Rohit Khan hitting two sixes. It was Waqar Salamkheil who wrapped up the innings with Russell's wicket. He scored 48 runs from 25 balls including three fours and four sixes. Joshua Little remained unbeaten for five runs as Knight Riders were bowled out for 95 from 14.1 overs. This is the first time Knight Riders were bowled out for less than 100. Their previous lowest score of 108 came against Desert Vipers in the previous season.
MI Emirates' top-order batters made short work of the run chase. Only Matiullah Khan managed to get a consolation wicket of Kusal Perera who scored 22 runs from 13 balls. Muhammad Waseem's 20-ball 26 and captain Nicholas Pooran's 15-ball 39 helped MI Emirates chase down the total with nine wickets in hand and 11.5 overs to spare.
“I have a simple game plan. Try to pitch it up and search for some swing. I saw in the earlier game that it was swinging around early, so wanted to maximise the conditions,” Boult told the broadcasters after his menacing spell.
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