Desert Vipers registered a nail-biting two-wicket win over MI Emirates in the 14th match of the ILT20 season 2 at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. The Vipers won the game off the last ball following a fierce battle. MI Emirates were restricted to 149 for 9 in 20 overs, but they fought back to reduce Vipers to 62 for 5. The fate of the match swung like a pendulum till the last over. Vipers’ Sherfane Rutherford lit up hopes of a victory through a quick 35 runs after taking 17 runs off Boult’s 17th over with a six and two boundaries. Then Bravo had Rutherford caught by Kusal Perera at mid-on off a slower delivery.
Shaheen Afridi and Luke Wood took up the challenge of scoring 17 runs from the last 12 balls and 10 off the last over from Trent Boult to win off the last ball. They ran for the three runs needed to win off the last ball.
As soon as Shaheen completed the third run at the non-striker’s end with a full-fledged dive, he stood on his knees and threw his bat behind in celebration.
MI Emirates’ batting cracked against the tight bowling of Mohammad Amir (3 for 26), Luke Wood (2 for 32) and Matheesha Pathirana (2 for 32).
Their total was shaped by Ambati Rayudu and Akeal Hosein’s 49-run partnership in 45 deliveries for the fifth wicket through knocks of 23 and 24 runs respectively. Tim David’s cameo of 28 off 14 balls gave some respectability to the total.
Chasing the target, Vipers’ opener Rohan Mustafa went for his shots and scored 18 runs with two boundaries and a six before being bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi. UAE’s left-arm pacer Muhammad Rohid struck twice in the fifth over to clean bowl opener Alex Hales for 3 and had Adam Hose brilliantly caught by a leaping Dwayne Bravo at first slip for a duck. Farooqi picked the price wicket of skipper Colin Munro caught behind by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran for 4.
With the score reading 28 for 4 in 5.3 overs, Azam Khan walked in and hit two successive boundaries off the first two deliveries he faced off Farooqi. Wanindu Hasaranga too sped up the run flow and put on 34 runs for the fifth wicket before Rohid dismissed the aggressive Khan, caught by Boult at deep mid-wicket for 20.
At the halfway mark, the Vipers needed 76 more runs. When Hasaranga too slapped Dwayne Bravo straight to Boult at deep extra cover for 26, Emirates took a firm grip on the match. Sherfane Rutherford, however, changed the course of the match through his 35 runs before the last over drama.