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‌ILT20 | Knight Riders take massive leap as Russell-Pepper outshine Giants in rain-interrupted affair

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BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

148

A convincing win over the Gulf Giants saw the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders leapfrog to the third spot in the points table after languishing at the bottom before the contest. Andre Russell’s all-round show coupled with Michael-Kyle Pepper’s fifty eclipsed Chris Lynn’s belligerent knock in Dubai.

The Knight Riders’ new ball bowlers were right on the spot, justifying their captain’s decision to bowl first against the Gulf Giants. Jamie Smith was cleaned up in the first over off by a seed from David Willey while James Vince followed suit in a space of fifteen deliveries. Despite the early jitters, Chris Lynn and Jordan Cox managed to accumulate 47 runs inside the powerplay. With the wind commanding strong and the surface assisting spin, Sunil Narine and Imad Wasim capitalized on the conditions and troubled the duo during the middle overs. However, the pair found a way to get the occasional boundary and rotated the strike to add 72 runs for the third wicket before Cox holed out in the deep after a scratchy 21 off 27 balls. Soon, Lynn switched gears and raced to his fifty in 30 balls, propelling the side to the 100 runs mark after 13.3 overs. The stage was set for a mighty finish but the Knight Riders’ duo of Ali Khan and Andre Russell hunted in pairs to peg back the Giants. Lynn departed after the second strategic timeout with Usman Khan and Shimron Hetmyer’s cameo landing the Giants to 161/6 after 20 overs. 

Unlike their counterparts, Michael-Kyle Pepper and Joe Clarke offered a rollicking start to the Knight Riders after assaulting Dominic Drakes and Mujeeb Ur Rahman for eleven and fourteen runs in their respective first overs. Their effort was accompanied by 22 extras inside the powerplay that propelled the scoreboard to 62/0 inside the field restrictions. Right after, Mujeeb Ur Rahman returned for his second over and outfoxed Joe Clarke, following it up with yet another scalp by dismissing Alishan Sharafu in the 11th over. Despite the two blows, Pepper continued to play his natural game and notched up a match-defining half-century before getting cleaned up by Richard Gleeson in the succeeding over. Although the Knight Riders lost another wicket, Andre Russell ensured that the runs came thick and fast with the scoreboard reflecting 131/4 at the stroke of the second strategic timeout. To everyone’s surprise, the rain showed up then but luckily it turned out to be a passing shower, paving the way for a quickfire 30 off 13 balls from Russell to seal the deal with ten balls to spare.

Big win!

Nice

Cheetah

Hope!

Fantastic

Russell Muscle

He wins it!

Very rare

Interesting

It is shocking

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