Rain forced the Sharjah Warriors-Dubai Capitals match to be called off after five overs. The 17th match of the ILT20 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night ended due to heavy downpour when Dubai Capitals were 17 for 4 in five overs. Both teams shared one point each.
Sharjah Warriors had won the toss and elected to bowl after a delayed start due to rain. The match started at 7.15pm (UAE time) as a 19 over contest an hour and 15 minutes after the scheduled start.
Sharjah’s medium pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, fresh from this five-wicket haul in the last match against Gulf Giants, bowled a tight first over giving away just one run. UAE’s Junaid Siddiqui struck in the second over clean bowling opener Hazratullah Zazai for 1 with the fifth ball and trapping Bhanuka Rajapaksa leg before with the next delivery. When Naveen also had opener Daniel Lawrence play into the hands of Joe Denly at mid-off, Dubai Capitals were tottering at 8 for 3.
The mantle of lifting the team out of trouble fell on skipper Rovman Powell and Dasun Shanaka. Powell hit the first boundary of the innings steering Naveen past point. Junaid bowled a brilliant fourth over giving away just four runs while Naveen struck again in the fifth over to force Shanaka to edge to wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 2. At 17 for 4 in five overs, rain returned forcing the umpires to called off the match.
Sharjah Warriors will remain in fourth position with five points from six matches while Dubai Capitals are at the fifth spot with five points from six matches due to a lesser run-run rate.
Speaking about the match being called off, Dubai Capitals captain Rovman Powell said, “The feeling in the camp is pretty good. The guys are still upbeat about their chances in our next game. It’s just unfortunate that the weather took precedence today. But such is the nature of the sport we play.”
Meanwhile, Sharjah Warriors’ Joe Denly said, “We had a super start. But you can’t control the weather. Unfortunately, the rain got the better of us. We can take a lot from how we started. Junaid and Naveen were absolutely fantastic with the new ball today.”
Brief scores:
Sharjah Warriors-Dubai Capitals match called off. Dubai Capitals 17 for 4 in 5 overs (Naveen-ul-Haq 2 for 9, Junaid Siddiqui 2 for 4).
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