The Abu Dhabi T10 Season 6 delivered some nerve-wracking moments on Friday, courtesy of some clean hitting and brilliant spells.

Carlos Brathwaite took four wickets for The Chennai Braves, while in-form Nicholas Pooran scored 80 quickfire runs. However, Brandon King gave us the Moment of the Day, smashing his West Indian counterpart Dwayne Bravo in the day’s second match.

King smashes Bravo for four boundaries in final over

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Team Abu Dhabi did not gain momentum throughout the innings. The experienced Dwayne Bravo bowled the final over for Delhi Bulls, with Brandon King on strike.

Needing a final flourish, King smashed the first ball inside-out over extra cover for a four. The Jamaican batter, once again, targeted the same region on the second, this time magnificently clearing the ropes for a maximum.

King seemed to have developed a stronghold in the extra cover region, hammering Bravo, the all-time leading wicket-taker in T20s, for four more runs. On the penultimate delivery, King heaved a six over the deep midwicket fence for another six.

The 27-year-old King’s final-over heroics propelled Team Abu Dhabi to 120/2 after 10 overs. He won the all-Caribbean battle in some style. Despite King’s valiant 27-ball 64, the match ended in a tie as the Bulls failed to score 13 runs off the final over.

Earlier in the game, Abu Dhabi skipper Chris Lynn and Alex Hales were dismissed early. While James Vince and Brandon King initially steadied the ship, King started striking big towards the second half of the innings.

Team Abu Dhabi, 41/2 at the halfway mark, ended at 120/2, courtesy of the 101-run partnership between King and Vince.

Tom Banton and Rilee Rossouw, meanwhile, gave a brisk start to the Bulls. The middle order carried on the momentum in the following overs as the Bulls were 16 runs ahead of Abu Dhabi.

Tim David, Keemo Paul and Jordan Cox, all chipped in with small but effective cameos to take the Bulls to the brink of victory. Imad Wasim looked to have given Delhi Bulls the edge after his boundary on the third ball of the final over. However, Naveen-ul-Haq and Team Abu Dhabi held their nerve as the match dramatically ended in a tie.

Nicholas Pooran’s blitzk hands Gladiators back-to-back wins

The reigning champions, Deccan Gladiators, notched up their second win on the trot. Powered by Nicholas Pooran’s swashbuckling knock and Tom Helm’s economical spell, the Gladiators beat Northern Warriors by 24 runs.

After choosing to bat first, Jason Roy and Tom Kohler-Cadmore got the Gladiators off to a brisk start. Roy got dismissed in the second over after a 10-ball 18.

Captain Nicholas Pooran, fresh off his unbeaten 77 in the first match, instantly got in the groove. Along with Kohler-Cadmore, Pooran was rampant with a flurry of boundaries. The pair helped Deccan Gladiators score 138/3 in 10 overs, courtesy of their 109-run stand. Kohler-Cadmore remained unbeaten at 32 off 16, while the former West Indian skipper smashed 80 runs off only 32 balls.

In the run chase, Adam Lyth and Kennar Lewis stormed through the Gladiators’ bowling lineup in the first five overs. However, just one ball before the halfway mark, Lewis was dismissed, ending a 59-run partnership.

The Northern Warriors’ batting lineup crumbled in the latter stages, as John Helm picked two wickets in the eighth over to tilt the game in favour of the reigning champions. Despite Usman Khan’s cameo, the Warriors ended with 114/5.

Chennai Braves off the mark against Bangla Tigers

Sikandar Raza-led The Chennai Braves notched their first win of the Abu Dhabi T10 2022 in the final match of the day. Thanks to Carlos Brathwaite’s 19-ball 44, the Braves scored 126, while his four-fer wrapped up the Bangla Tigers at 93.

After losing Adam Rossington in the first over, Michael Pepper and Dawid Malan, who scored 13 and 27, respectively, took The Chennai Braves to 53/3 at the halfway mark. After the duo and Raza got dismissed, Brathwaite took charge in the final three overs, with his flurry of boundaries helping the Braves smash 55 off the last three overs.

The Tigers lost Hazratullah Zazai and Evin Lewis in the first 10 balls of the chase. However, Iftikhar Ahmed’s aggression helped Bangla Tigers gain momentum. But Brathwaite turned the game on its head in the fifth over, dismissing Colin Munro and Ben Cutting off successive deliveries.

Shakib Al Hasan provided some stability towards the end, but Olly Stone and Carlos Brathwaite kept the Tigers under check and bundled them out 33 runs short of the Braves’ total.

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