Desert Vipers captain Colin Munro was at the center of the action in their match against the Sharjah Warriors in Sharjah on Sunday 28 January. The Vipers lost the game in the end by 7 runs, but Colin Munro won many hearts.
Batting first, Sharjah Warriors scored a competitive 174/7 in their 20 overs. Captain Tom Kohler-Cadmore scored 68 after the first few matches failed narrowly. Martin Guptill scored 39 while Joe Denly scored 22 off 24 balls.
During the 26-run tussle between Dely and Guptill, the England batsman hit Guptill’s right hand hard. The ball after hitting Guptill’s hand headed towards Shadab who took the balls and trapped the Kiwi batsman without realizing that he was outside the crease. Azam Khan, the Desert Vipers goalkeeper, kept saying “karde out, karde out. out karde” to keep Shadab alive to the fact that he may be left without Guptill.
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Meanwhile, Guptill was wincing in pain as Munto decided to call him out and show great sportsmanship. The action was called by commentator Alan Wilkins, who narrated the entire scene and also praised Munto for his great sporting act.
Watch: Colin Munro shows sportsmanship to recall Martin Guptill
A nice gesture from Colin Munro and the Desert Vipers team 👌 #ILT20
(through @ILT20Official) pic.twitter.com/vR0xIBpxYo
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 29, 2024
The desert Vipesr captain was sadly dismissed for ducking in the 175-run chase. Alex Hales scored 61 while Azam Khan scored 35 in the run chase as the Vipers fell short by seven runs. Chris Woakes and Daniel Sams took two wickets each for the Warriors. Meanwhile, for the Vipers, Sri Lanka’s T20I captain Wanindu Hasaranga showed the magic of him and took 3/30. Luke Wood, the England pacer, took 3/34, while Shaheen Afridi took one.
The Vipers needed 16 runs to win the final over which was bowled by Muhammad Jawadullah. He kept a cool head and allowed just eight runs as the Warriors won the game by seven runs and earned their second victory of the season.
The table is led by MI Emirates, who have won four of their five matches. Dubai Capitals and Gulf Giants have four points each with two wins and two losses. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders are in fourth place with two wins and three losses in five matches. The Warriors are in fifth place with two wins and two losses in four games. The defending champions Vipers languish at the bottom of the points table with just one win in four matches.
The bottom three teams, the Knight Riders, Warriors and Vipers, are all negative NRRs and have a lot to do in the remaining league games. Each team plays 10 league games and has almost reached the halfway point of the championship. The top four teams advance to the playoffs and the top two will play in the final on February 17.
“Disappointed. We put them in to bat and to have them on 130 after 10-12 overs, we are always trying to catch up. I think we batted well in the chase, but we made mistakes at important times. We don’t worry too much about dropped catches “We were careless but we will evaluate it. We wanted Luke Wood from the beginning, but with Shaheen and Amir it was difficult. But today he showed what he can bring to this side. We are mentally prepared, if we execute our skills better we will be fine.” said Desert Vipers captain Colin Muntro after the team suffered its third loss of the campaign.
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