Gulf Giants’ hopes of advancing to the inaugural International League T20 (ILT20) final suffered a huge setback as they lost to Desert Vipers by 19 runs in Qualifier 1 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, February 8.
After the Giants restricted the Vipers to 178/7 in their 20 overs, their batters had an off day as they lost wickets at regular intervals to get bowled out for 159 in 19.4 overs.
Earlier, Gulf Giants captain James Vince won the toss and opted to field first. Both the Giants and the Vipers made three changes each. While Chris Lynn, Shimron Hetmyer and Chris Jordan were back in the Giants’ playing XI, the Vipers brought in Wanindu Hasaranga, Luke Wood and Gus Atkinson for the high-profile encounter.
Openers Rohan Mustafa and Alex Hales got the Vipers off to a decent start before Giants’ star all-rounder David Wiese dismissed Mustafa for a 13-ball 23.
The Giants continued to pile more pressure on the Vipers batting line-up as Carlos Brathwaite soon cleaned up Hales for 3 while Jordan bagged the massive wicket of captain Colin Munro for 2.
Reeling at 33/3, Hasaranga joined wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings at the crease. The duo stitched an impressive 60-run stand for the fourth wicket to bring the Vipers back into the game.
However, Dominic Drakes later provided the Giants a much-needed breakthrough as he removed Hasaranga for a well-made 31 off 20 balls.
Following Hasaranga’s dismissal, Sherfane Rutherford walked into bat. The southpaw added 5 runs to the scoreboard before the West Indies cricketer tweaked his hamstring while completing a run. Tom Curran joined Billings in the middle after Rutherford limped off the field.
In the 15th over, the Giants added more misery on the Vipers as left-arm spinner Aayan Afzal Khan dismissed Billings for a 29-ball 31.
The Giants continued to pick wickets at regular intervals as Jordan removed Luke Wood for 12.
After losing Wood, injured Rutherford came back on for the Vipers. The swashbuckling left-hander smashed Jordan for a four followed by a six in the 17th over, and later hit Wiese for three consecutive sixes to provide the much-needed momentum to Vipers’ innings.
At the other end, Curran also slammed a few boundaries to accumulate 69 runs in the last five overs.
Rutherford’s 19-ball 37 and Curran’s 29 off 17 balls powered the Vipers to 178/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing a challenging target of 179, Vince and Lynn got the Giants off a blitzkrieg start. The pair forged a 53-run opening partnership before Hasaranga bamboozled Lynn to dismiss him for 26.
The Giants soon suffered another setback as skipper Vince was cleaned up by Curran for 21.
Colin de Grandhomme and Shimron Hetmyer added 18 runs off 15 balls for the third wicket before Hasaranga trapped the Kiwi all-rounder in front of the stumps for run-a-ball 11.
Hasaranga later bagged his third wicket as removed Wiese for a duck in the same over.
With the Giants still needing 104 runs off 57 balls, Hetmyer and Brathwaite steadied the ship with a 35-run stand. The flamboyant southpaw smashed 36 runs off just 21 balls before he was dismissed by Wood.
Giants’ wicketkeeper-batter Tom Banton also departed quickly as he fell to Curran for 8.
Wood scalped his second wicket of the match as he removed Drakes for 9.
While Brathwaite (18) and Jordan (17 not out) later showed some resistance in the final few overs, the Giants still fell short by 19 runs.
The James Vince-led Giants will aim to bounce back against the winner of the Eliminator between MI Emirates and Dubai Capitals in Qualifier 2 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, February 10.
