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

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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‌The disciplined MI Emirates showcased utmost grit in beating defending champions Gulf Giants by 18 runs in Abu Dhabi, after losing their opening game on Friday. Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, with a figure of 4/25, earned his side to their first victory in the tournament.

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

What a yorker

Smashing

Hopeless

Big 2024

Ran away

Second string

Mi family

One of the best



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