Powell, Cox power Dubai Capitals to victory

Dubai Capitals registered their first win in the ILT20 with a massive 83-run victory, courtesy of Rovman Powell's 52-ball 96 and Jordan Cox's 52 off 36 that took the Capitals to a competitive total of 186 for 4. Waqar Salamkheil's 4 for 29 had the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders bowled out for just 103 in a one-sided contest.

Having been put in to bat, the Capitals lost their two openers - Toby Albert and Sediqullah Atal - cheaply in the PowerPlay as they slipped to 25 for 2. This brought Cox to the crease who scored a boundary off just his second ball before lofting Olly Stone over extra cover. Immediately after the PowerPlay, Shayan Jahangir offered a return catch to Piyush Chawla as the Capitals' batters continued to fall.

This brought Cox and Powell together at the crease. They saw the first two overs out to consolidate the innings before Powell scored his first boundary down the ground off Chawla. He then hit two boundaries in an over off Sunil Narine while Cox danced down to loft Chawla straight back over hid head for a maximum. The two ran so well that they got 10 runs in an over by just tucking the ball through mid-wicket and ran a double five times.

Powell and Cox brought up their 50s in the 16th over before the former continued his merry returns against Narine, smashing him over extra cover for six. The 119-run stand off 76 balls came to an end when Cox holed-out to long-on off Jason Holder. Powell then powered Russell to a 24-run final over which consisted of two sixes and two fours to take the Capitals to 186 for 4.

In reply, ADKR got off to the worst possible start. David Willey picked up Alex Hales and Alishan Sharafu in his first over while Mustafizur Rahman scalped Unmukt Chand for a golden-duck as ADKR were 10 for 3. Through the carnage at the other end, Phil Salt managed to battle it out and clubbed Mustafizur for a four and a six. But the bowler had the last laugh as Salt hit a slower delivery to Powell at cover-point. Mohammad Nabi picked up Liam Livingstone as things went from bad to worse.

Andre Russell then slammed two sixes off Salamkheil in his first over before the bowler had him caught off the following delivery. Salamkheil then followed it up with the wickets of Holder, Sherfane Rutherford and Olly Stone as the Capitals completed a thumping win.

Brief Scores: Dubai Capitals 186/4 in 20 overs (Rovman Powell 96*, Jordan Cox 52; Jason Holder 2-30, Ajay Kumar 1-28) beat Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 103 in 15.3 overs (Phil Salt 27, Sherfane Rutherford 19; Waqar Salamkheil 4-29, Mohammad Nabi 2-12) by 83 runs