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.