Chennai Braves gave Samp Army the jitters before bowing to a seven- wicket defeat with one ball to spare in a hard fought seventh match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Braves, whose top order crumbled to 27 for 6, fought back through their skipper Charith Asalanka (31) and UAE’s Aayan Afzal Khan (19n.o) to put on a 49 runs partnership for the seventh wicket. This gave them a total of 97 for 7. Braves bravely battled to check Samp Army’s run flow despite fine knocks from openers Andries Gous (43) and Faf du Plessis (31). The match hung in balance till the fifth ball of the last over when Najibulllah Zadran hit a six to win the match. Chennai Braves won the toss and elected to bat. They got off to a shock start losing opener Jason Roy, who had cracked an unbeaten 84 in their previous match to Team Abu Dhabi, for 1. He played Jason Holder on to his wicket.

In the next over, one-drop George Munsey got out for a duck to Karim Janat. Munsey hit high to Holder in the covers. Opener Kobe Herft hit Qais Ahmed for a six and a boundary in the third over but fell to the last ball of that over for 20. Holder caught him at long-on through a diving catch. Moeen Ali struck twice in the fifth over. At the half way mark, the Chennai Braves score board read a pathetic 27 for 6. UAE’s Ayaz Afzal Khan picked a boundary off Hatzoglou to push the score to 36 by the end of the sixth over. Afzal Khan remained unconquered on 19. For a team that was tottering at 27 for 6, it was remarkable that they could post three runs short of the 100 run mark. Samp Army’s march towards the target began with opener Andries Gous and Faf du Plessis picking one boundary each from the first two overs.

Gous picked his second boundary off Sam Cook. With thirty runs needed off the last 18 balls, Gous hit Nabi for a six to long-on. Najibullah Zadran joined Gous and made it 17 runs off 12 balls. Gous then hit Afzal Khan for his second six, but got run out to a fine direct throw from Asalanka at covers for 43. His knock off 26 balls had three boundaries and two sixes. With eight runs needed off the last over, Zadran hit a six to mid-wicket and won the match for his team with one ball to spare. Brief scores: Samp Army bt Chennai Braves by 7 wkts. Chennai Braves 97 for 7 in 10 overs (Kobe Herft 20, Charith Aslanka 31, Karim Janat 2 for 15, Moeen Ali 2 for 17) Samp Army 99 for 3 in 9.5 overs (Andries Gous 43, Faf du Plessis 31)

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)