Abu Dhabi T10: Ali Khan's fiery spell helps Delhi Bulls defeat Pune Devils

Abu Dhabi [UAE], February 3 : Through fiery spells by medium-pacers Ali Khan and Amad Butt, Delhi Bulls restricted Pune Devils to a paltry 57 for 7 to ensure an emphatic eight-wicket win in the second match of the second day of the Super League matches of Abu Dhabi T10 on Tuesday.
Ali Khan produced a spell of three wickets giving away no runs while Butt backed him with two wickets for 22 runs. After sharing five wickets between them, with Fidell Edwards too chipping in with one wicket, Pune lost their first six wickets in the first five overs. None of the later batsmen could lift Pune to a bigger total.
Chasing the score, Bulls opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a quick 26 to speed up the race to the target. With unbeaten knocks of 13 and 14 respectively from Evin Lewis and Sherfane Rutherford, the Bulls won the match with 32 balls to spare.
Earlier, the Bulls won the toss and promptly elected to field. Pune opener Kennar Lewis picked two consecutive boundaries off the first two balls from Amad Butt. Opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore also hit Butt for a boundary through the covers off the fourth ball to get 14 runs off the over. Lewis hit Fidel Edwards over long-on for a six, but while attempting another one off the next ball got caught at mid-wicket for 15.
Cadmore hit Butt for a six over mid-wicket. Two balls later Butt clean bowled next man Chadwick Walton for 1. Pune slipped into trouble when Cadmore on 11 was given out caught by Ali Khan off Butt at covers despite the replays of the catch being inconclusive. Ali Khan bowled a deadly fifth over by having Alex Davies caught behind for 3. He also removed Nasir Hossain and Karan off successive balls. At the halfway mark, Pune was struggling at 35 for 6.
Devon Thomas could get only one boundary off Bravo's sixth over. Shiraz Ahmed, who bowled the seventh over, not only gave away just two runs but also clean bowled Ahmed Raza for 4 off his last ball. Pune crawled to the 50 run mark in the eighth over off Mohammad Amir.
Shiraz made it tougher for Pune by bowling another brilliant over giving away just five runs. Tom Abell bowled the last over, giving away just two runs to restrict Pune to a mere 57 for 7 in 10 overs.
Chasing the small target, the only point of interest was the number of overs Bulls would need to reach the target. Bulls opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz pulled the first ball of the innings from Mohammad Amir for a six while Evin Lewis hit him for a boundary off the last ball.
In the second over from Munis Ansari, Gurbaz hit a boundary over the covers and another over the bowler's head to take 15 runs off the over. Lewis speeded up the race to the target by hitting Amir for a six over deep mid-wicket. Amir dismissed Gurbaz by having him caught by Alex Davies at the square leg boundary for 26. Ansari then went on to pick the wicket of Ravi Bopara in the fourth over by having him caught at extra cover for 2. Bulls won the match before the halfway mark, off the fourth ball of the fourth over.

Brief scores: Pune Devils 57/7 (Devon Thomas 15*, Kennar Lewis 15, Ali Khan 3-0); Delhi Bulls 58/2 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 26, Sherfane Rutherford 14, Munis Ansari 1-18).