Akeal Hosein and Chamika Karunaratne bowled out Delhi Bulls for a paltry 31 runs in 9.3 overs to give New York Strikers a thunderous 67 runs victory in the 18th match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Delhi Bulls’ total was the lowest ever in Abu Dhabi T10 history displacing Northern Warriors 46 all out against Qalandars in 2019.
Though Delhi Bulls restricted New York Strikers to 98 for 4 in 10 overs despite Rahmanulla Gurbaz’s unbeaten 49 and Odean Smith’s unconquered 25, they put on an embarrassing batting display.
Four of their batters got out for ducks, and except for Ravi Bopara (16), none of the other batters reached double figures. Hosein returned with figures of 3 for 7 while Karunarate bagged three wickets for 6 runs.
New York Strikers also displaced Delhi Bulls from the top of the table to clinch the top slot. Bulls who began with three consecutive victories were also defeated by Samp Army in their last match and have slipped to the third slot.
Earlier, batting star Gurbaz struck an unbeaten 49, which came off 24 balls with two boundaries and five sixes, after Delhi Bulls won the toss. Gurbaz dedicated his fighting knock to his elder brother. Smith’s unbeaten 25 was scored off 15 balls with one boundary and two sixes. Gurbaz and Smith had put on an unbeaten 67 runs off 27 balls for the fifth wicket.
Delhi Bulls’s chase began on a shaky note. West Indies slow left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein had opener Johnson Charles leg before for a duck to the second ball of the first over. With the next ball, he clean bowled one-drop James Vince. In the second over, Mohammad Amir also got Rilee Rossouw caught by Chamika Karunaratne at mid-on for 4. Three wickets were thus down before the score reached double figures.
Wickets continued to fall in the third over too when Hosein clean-bowled Usman who went for a sweep and missed the ball for 3. Karunaratne who bowled the fifth over got opener Quinton de Kock caught and bowled for five with the second delivery and the consistent skipper Rovman Powell was caught behind by Gurbaz for 2 with the fourth ball. With the fifth ball, he also got Bravo caught behind while trying to flick. The scoreboard read a pathetic 15 for 7 at the halfway stage.
Sunil Narine had Navin Ul Haq brilliantly stumped by Gurbaz off the third ball of the sixth over for the fourth duck of the innings. Ravi Bopara and Gleeson held on till the ninth over before Gleenson too got caught behind by Gurbaz off Muhammad Jawadullah for 1. Bopara became the only batsman to reach double figures but hit a high catch off Odean Smith to Karunaratne at point for 16. Delhi Bulls were bowled out in 9.3 overs for a record-low score.
Brief scores:
New York Strikers 98/4 in 10 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 49 n.o, Odean Smith 25 n.o, Wasim Akram 2-15) beat Delhi Bulls 31 all out in 9.3 overs (Akeal Hosein 3-7, Chamika Karunaratne 3-6) by 67 runs.
