Abu Dhabi: Morrisville Samp Army marched past Delhi Bulls by four wickets in the 15th match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Delhi Bulls was restricted to 95 for 8 through fine spells from Jason Holder (3 for 15) and Salman Irshad (3 for 14). Samp Army then rode to victory with two balls to spare with Faf Du Plessis top scoring with 30 runs and Najibullah Zadran hitting a timely unbeaten 25.
Delhi Bulls with three consecutive victories and the table toppers, crashed to their first defeat.
Samp Army skipper Moeen Ali had won the toss and elected to bowl. He also introduced himself to bowl the first over of the match. Table toppers Delhi Bulls’ opener Johnson Charles hit the fifth ball of the first over for a mighty six over mid-wicket. Peter Hatzoglou who bowled the second over was hit by opener Quntion de Kock over mid-off for a boundary.
When Delhi Bulls reached the 50-run mark in the fifth over, Powell went on to hit Qais Ahmad, who bowled the sixth over, for a six over long-on. Qais then went on to remove Vince by having him caught by Holder at extra cover for 24.
The tenth over was a tight over from Salma Irshad who gave away only seven runs and took the wicket of Naveen Ul Haq caught by Ibrahim Zadran at deep square leg for 6. Naveen too bagged three wickets for 14 runs. Delhi Bulls thus failed to reach the 100 run mark by five runs.
Samp Army began their march to the target with opener Ibrahim Zadran hitting the first two deliveries of the first over from Fazalhaq Farooq for boundaries. The first was flicked to fine leg and next played through the covers.
Zadran’s aggressive start was stopped by Naveen Ul Haq with the second ball of the second over. Haq had him caught flicking into the hands of Rossouw for 11. Skipper Moeen Ali joined opener Andries Gous but lasted only four balls before falling to Wasim Akram for 1. Moeen got caught by Naveen Ul Haq at mid-off.
With 53 runs needed off the last five overs, Gous pulled Bravo for a six. In the seventh over Fazalhaq Farooqi had Du Plessis caught by Usman Khan at deep mid-wicket for 30.
With 28 runs needed off 18 balls, Gleeson gave away only 11 runs.
Off the last over, Samp Army needed 12 runs. Skipper Powell introduced himself but Najibullah Zadran smashed his second delivery over long-off for a six. The third ball was sent for two runs and he smashed the fourth for a boundary to long-on and win the match with two balls to spare. He remained unbeaten with 25 off 12 balls.
Brief scores:
Samp Army bt Delhi Bulls by 4 wkts.
Delhi Bulls 95 for 8 in 1o overs (James Vince 24, Jason Holder 3 for 15, Salman Irshad 3 for 14)
Samp Army 96 for 6 in 9.4 overs (Andries Gous 20, Faf du Plessis 30, Najibullah Zadran 25n.o, Fazalhaq Farooq 2 for 17, Dwayne Bravo 2 for 22)
Player of the Match: Jason Holder
