Gulf Giants’ four-match winning streak ended as they lost to Sharjah Warriors by 21 runs in their fifth match of the inaugural International League T20 (ILT20) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday, January 23.
After an impressive all-round bowling performance helped the Giants restrict the Warriors to 151/7 in their 20 overs, the batters failed to continue their scintillating run as they were bowled out for 130 in 19.4 overs.
Earlier, Giants captain James Vince won the toss and opted to field first. Both the Giants and the Warriors named unchanged playing XIs.
The Giants got off to a brilliant start as star all-rounder David Wiese dismissed the Warriors wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 6.
David Malan joined Tom Kohler-Cadmore at the crease. The duo stitched a 32-run stand for the second wicket before pacer Richard Gleeson bagged the massive wicket of in-form Kohler-Cadmore for a 20-ball 36.
Meanwhile, the Giants’ young fast bowler Sanchit Sharma added more misery on the Warriors batting line-up as he removed former world no. 1 T20I batter, Malan for 5.
With Warriors reeling at 50/3, captain Moeen Ali and middle-order batter Joe Denly looked to rebuild the innings.
The pair added 37 runs off 27 balls for the fourth wicket before leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed deceived Ali to get him caught at deep mid-wicket for 16.
Following Ali’s dismissal, all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and Denly forged a sensible partnership to bring the Warriors back into the game. The duo registered a 40-run stand before Chris Jordan provided the Giants a much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Nabi for 20.
With wickets falling at the other end, Joe Denly continued his impressive knock as he brought up his fifty off 37 balls, laced with four fours and two sixes.
Later in the final over of the innings, Jordan bagged the wickets of Denly (58) and Chris Woakes (4) to restrict the Warriors to 151/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
For the Giants, Jordan was the wrecker-in-chief as he finished with figures of 4-0-25-3.
Chasing a target of 152, the Giants succumbed to massive blows as they lost Ahmed (0), Vince (1), Tom Banton (5), Aayan Afzal Khan (1) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) in the powerplay.
All-rounder Liam Dawson soon departed as he was dismissed for 3.
With score reading 30/6 in 7.1 overs, David Wiese joined Chris Lynn at the crease. The duo added 41 runs before Lynn perished for 20.
While Wiese (35) and Jordan (37) played some brilliant knocks down the order to keep the Giants in the chase, they fell short by 21 runs.
Having succumbed to their first defeat, the Giants are still at the top of the ILT20 2023 standings with eight points from five matches.
The James Vince-led Giants will aim to bounce back when they lock horns with Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, January 25
