Dunk, Powell and Holder help Dubai Capitals beat Desert Vipers

Ben Dunk's fighting 59 and Rovman Powell's unbeaten 40 along with Jason Holder’s cameo of 23 helped Dubai Capitals register a thrilling four-wicket win against Desert Vipers in the 17th match of the DP World ILT20 season 2.

Powell and Holder put an unbeaten 38 runs in 26 balls for the seventh wicket to snatch the match away from the grip of Vipers.

The action began with Capitals opting to bowl first after winning the toss. Vipers’ opener Rohan Mustafa hit Scotland medium pacer Scott Kuggeleijn for two consecutive sixes in the third over, the first shot clearing the long-on and second pulled over square leg. Opener Alex Hales too hit Kuggeleijn’s last delivery for a six over long-off to make it 19 runs off that over. The pair did not spare Jason Holder either and hit him for 17 runs in the fourth over. 

Mustafa reached his half century in 32 balls, but fell to the next ball caught by Rahul Chopra at deep square leg off Akif Raja. Colin Munro and Hales took the score past the 100 run mark in the 12th over, and Hales hit Sikandar Raza for two consecutive straight sixes. Unfortunately, Hales fell one short of his half century when he hit Holder to Roelof Van der Merwe at cover to a slower delivery. This brought in the aggressive Azam Khan but Dushmantha Chameera had him caught by Warner at mid-off for a duck. Then the aggressive Sherfane Rutherford too got out caught by Chopra at deep square leg off Kuggeleijn for a duck. Adam Hose and Wanindu Hasaranga (12) took the score to twenty runs more than the 150 mark.

Skipper David Warner, hailing his team, said, “This is really an important win. The belief in our change room in chasing suits us. We're calm and composed and the guys know how to get the job done. Here the ball tends to slow up on the wicket. But we still need to nail the powerplay with the bat. I'm not worried about myself (form).”

Losing skipper Munro said: “This was a tough one to swallow. Through the middle it got tough to bat. They bowled really well. Some slower balls gripped a little, and some died. Ben Dunk turned back the clock and played beautifully”.

Player of the Match Dunk said: “It was just  great for the team to get back to the winners’ list. I've had my intent every time. Some of the high risk options didn't come off, but today they did. Jason and Rovman at the end are world class finishers and they got it done. It was a hell of a last over; in fairness, he (Pathirana) bowled beautifully.”

Final scores:

Desert Vipers 169 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohan Mustafa 50, Alex Hales 49, Adam Hose 35n.o)
Dubai Capitals 170 for 6 in 20 overs (Ben Dunk 59, Sikandar Raza 22, Rovman Powell 40n.o, Jason Holder 23n.o, Shaheen Afridi 2 for 47, Wanindu Hasaranaga 2 for 25)