ILT20 | Twitter lauds paceman Farooqi’s impressive four-wicket haul as MI defeats Gulf Giants in Abu Dhabi

Choosing to bowl first worked well for the defending champions Gulf Giants as they restricted the MI Emirates to 41/1 at the end of the powerplay. Openers Muhammed Waseem and Will Smeed couldn’t produce any spark as Giants bowlers Jamie Overton and Dominic Drakes produced some quality bowling picking up the openers. The green pitch at Abu Dhabi helped the Giants bowler to the fullest as MI was unable to manoeuvre further. With MI skipper Nicholas Pooran and Andre Fletcher on the crease, MI could reach 66/3 in 11 overs but unfortunately lost Flethcer in the next over. The MI innings was powered further by Pooran and Former Indian batter Ambati Rayudu with the latter smacking 16 runs off the 13th over by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The Pooran-Rayudu duo looked confident smothering the ball out of the park hoping to put up a solid total on board. But the paradigm shifted in favour of MI as West Indies star Dwayne Bravo and Tim David put up a partnership of 40 runs cruising to 179/5.

The Giants were off to a swift start as openers Jamie Smith and James Vince put up a splendid 48-run partnership to get things going for them. However, the MI bowler had a moment of relief dismissing Smith and Jordan Cox, courtesy of two successive wickets taken by Afghan speedster Fazalhaq Farooqi. However, Vince and Usman Khan powered the MI Emirates innings from the 11th over until Khan’s departure. The game was positioned at a level where things could favour either as Overton and Shimron Hetmyer in crease looked to finish things off for the Giants with a 53-run partnership in the 18th over with the scorecard at 154/4. Meanwhile, Farooqi was brought in to break the solid Overton-Hetmyer union and the 23-year-old did the same by dismissing Overton. The Giants couldn't recover from the dismissal and suffered an 18-run defeat after winning their inaugural game against Sharjah Warriors. 

Backing

Backing Emirates 

— S (@captrocin) 

What a yorker

What a Yorker Jordan 🥵🥵

Raydu did more than what I expected from him...

— Tradancyog (@TradancyOG) 

Smashing

Rayudu is smashing it for MI in  now..

— Aravind (@netcitizen) 

Hopeless

MI in sa20 is hopeless in today's match and in ilt20 it's OK ok

— Ayush (@AYUSHAG15893282) 

Big 2024

Watching ILT20 in big 2024😱

— Abhishek Roy (@AbhiroyTweets) 

Ran away

Blud literally ran away from the franchise which he signed in ILT20. Should we appreciate him🤣

— DW STAN (@122Manchester) 

Second string

Not much, I agree. I suppose Lions used to be strictly second-string but it isn't quite that anymore, and the more Tests and T20 converge the more likely they'll pluck someone out of ILT20 if they think he has the temperament. But I agree Bohannon/Jennings are the intuitive picks

— James Coyne (@coynejames) 

Mi family

Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu will play for MI EMIRATES in ILT20.



BRAVO and AMBATI - MI Family 💫 

— Balaji Iyengar (@imbalaji007) 

One of the best

Akeal Hosein must be one of the best swing bowlers right now.

— Hemant Brar (@HemantBrar_)