MI Emirates (MIE) and Desert Vipers (DV) faced each other in match no. 15 of the ongoing International League T20 (ILT20) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (January 24).
Desert Viper won the toss and chose to field first. Consequently, the decision worked well for DV as they restricted MIE to an average score of 169/5. Nicholas Pooran (57) and Kieron Pollard (67) were the main contributors for MIE in setting up a fighting total. Meanwhile, Tom Curran scalped two wickets for DV, of which one came off a stunning yorker.
Curran delivered a nailing yorker to Pooran on the fifth ball of the 20th over, which the latter failed to get his bat onto, and the ball eventually went from between his legs to rattle the stump. The left-handed batter seemed to have not expected such a delivery, as he fell on the ground in the course of hitting the ball and took some time to get up to walk back to the pavilion after the dismissal.
Curran was pumped up after the wicket and got appreciated by his fellow teammates. The team dugout and the fans on social media also applauded the 27-year-old fast bowler’s sensational delivery.
Here’s the video:
That's a special delivery from Tom Curran 👏👏👏
He floored Nicholas Pooran! pic.twitter.com/s33OKXKpIV
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 24, 2023
In reply to MIE’s total, DV chased down the set target quite easily in 16.3 overs with seven wickets remaining. Alex Hales and Sherfane Rutherford scored unbeaten 62 and 41, respectively. Colin Munro also contributed 44 runs to help his team register a dominating victory. On the other hand, Samit Patel and Trent Boult were the only bowlers for MIE to pick a wicket.
With this thumping win, DV moved to the top of the points table, while MIE slipped to the third position in the points tally.
