Gritty gulf giants

Gritty Gulf Giants: The Gulf Giants were forced to dig deep, and they responded brilliantly, to defeat the MI Emirates by two wickets, in a nail-biter in Season 3 of the ILT20 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Saturday. The Gulf Giants looked down and out at one stage before their lower order showed nerves of steel to guide the side over the finish line against the MI Emirates. The win helps the Gulf Giants move to fifth on the points table.

Asked to bat first, the MI Emirates had a slow start as they lost the openers Kusal Perera for four and Muhammad Waseem for 12, both to Daniel Worrall, in the powerplay. The in-form Tom Banton then began the job of rebuilding for the MI Emirates and was looking for support from his skipper.

However, Nicholas Pooran could only add eight to the cause while Dan Mousley added five more, before both were dismissed, leaving the MI Emirates in a spot of bother at 57/4. Banton was joined by Kieron Pollard, and they dug in. Banton and Pollard kept the scoreboard moving even when the big hits were tough to come by. Banton completed his fifty in the 15th over, and in the next Pollard took Aayan Khan to the cleaners, smashing three sixes in a 21-run over.