Allround Capitals condemn Giants to fourth straight loss

An allround effort from Dubai Capitals condemned Gulf Giants to their fourth successive loss in the ILT20. Looking to end their losing streak against a side they already defeated before in the season, Giants put up a scrappy batting performance that saw them get bowled out for just 156. In reply, Capitals overcame a jittery start to get the job done in the final over of the chase.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz got Giants off to a flier by tonking David Willey for two sixes in the opening over of the contest. He launched another six off Mustafizur Rahman in the second over and raced to 23 off 8 to put Capitals on the backfoot early. However, a slog sweep cut short Gurbaz's cracking start. In a matter of two overs, the game turned on its head as Mohammad Nabi first got rid of Moeen Ali before Haider Ali castled Lorcan Tucker to reduce Giants to 49/3.

Azmatullah Omarzai then joined forces with skipper James Vince to arrest the slide as Giants slowly began to rebuild. Azmatullah finally broke the shackles after a sedate period by launching Haider for a six before slamming another big one off Waqar Salamkheil to inject some momentum into the innings. However, against the run of play, the Giants' innings fell apart quite crazily as Mustafizur struck thrice in the space of four balls to stun the opposition.

Vince chased a wide one to edge it behind and Azmatullah was then bowled off an inside edge before the left-arm seamer castled Sean Dickson for a duck. From 116/6, with their innings in tatters, Giants crawled to 156 thanks to Kyle Mayers. Giants then had Azmatullah to thank for again with the ball as he struck twice in one over to remove Sediqullah Atal and Jordan Cox to keep the contest in the balance.

Despite making a strong start Shayan Jahangir began to retreat after those two wickets as Giants got themselves into a pretty good position at the halfway stage. Things slowly changed though when Rovman Powell hammered a six and a four in successive overs. Even though Jahangir eventually fell for 48, the experienced duo of Powell and Mohammad Nabi absorbed the pressure and took the game deep. Both batters hit timely boundaries before Powell's six off Azmatullah in the penultimate over tilted the balance, Nabi then finished the game with a four and a six off the first two balls in the final over to complete the win.

Brief scores: Gulf Giants 156 in 19.5 overs (Azmatullah Omarzai 43; Mustafizur Rahman 3/34) lost to Dubai Capitals 162/4 in 19.2 overs (Shayan Jahangir 48, Rovman Powell 47*; Azmatullah Omarzai 2/27) by 6 wickets