DUBAI, Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates, Jan 16, CMC – Fakhar Za­man’s bril­liant 67 off 52 balls led the Desert Vipers to a five-wick­et vic­to­ry over MI Emi­rates at the Dubai In­ter­na­tion­al Sta­di­um, as ac­tion con­tin­ued in the ILT20 here Thurs­day.

Chas­ing 160, the Vipers reached their tar­get in 19.1 overs, thanks to key con­tri­bu­tions from Alex Hales (34) and Sam Cur­ran (28).

The Vipers start­ed strong, with Hales and Za­man post­ing 51 in the pow­er­play. De­spite los­ing quick wick­ets, Za­man’s cal­cu­lat­ed knock and a 65-run part­ner­ship with Cur­ran shift­ed mo­men­tum. Guyanese Sher­fane Ruther­ford sealed the chase with 21 off eight balls, in­clud­ing a match-win­ning six. Za­hoor Khan and Dan Mous­ley picked up two wick­ets each.

Ear­li­er, MI Emi­rates post­ed 159-6, dri­ven by late fire­works from Trinida­di­an Kieron Pol­lard (36) and Guyanese Ro­mario Shep­herd (16 not out).

Cap­tain Nicholas Pooran made 15 as the team strug­gled to build on a promis­ing start, with Wanin­du Hasaranga and Lock­ie Fer­gu­son de­liv­er­ing key break­throughs. Fer­gu­son fin­ished with two wick­ets for 25 runs while Hasaranga took one for 21.

Play­er of the Match Fakhar Za­man cred­it­ed a strate­gic ap­proach by coun­ter­ing the spin­ners, while MI Emi­rates cap­tain Pooran praised the Vipers’ mid­dle-or­der re­silience.

“I felt we were in the game. We were hap­py with 160, the way the pitch was play­ing, it seemed to be very tricky. It’s still young in the tour­na­ment, Mous­ley got us two wick­ets, and we went search­ing for an­oth­er, but we didn’t get it. Cred­it to Fakhar Za­man and Sam Cur­ran, they played well.”

SCORES: MI Emi­rates 159-6 in 20 overs (Kieron Pol­lard 36, Kusal Per­era 33, Muham­mad Waseem 18, Lock­ie Fer­gu­son 2 for 23, Wanin­du Hasaranga 1 for 21, Dan Lawrence 1 for 21).

Desert Vipers 161-5 in 20 overs (Fakhar Za­man 67, Alex Hales 34, Sam Cur­ran 28, Sher­fane Ruther­ford 21 not out, Za­hoor Khan 2 for 24, Dan Mous­ley 2 for 27, Waqar Salamkheil 1 for 29).

CMC