Abu Dhabi T10: Moeen Ali, Lewis propel Northern Warriors to win over Chennai Braves
Nov 25, 2021
Abu Dhabi [UAE], November 25 : Northern Warriors registered their first win of the Abu Dhabi T10 League, riding majorly on a massive 106-run opening partnership between Moeen Ali and Kennar Lewis.
Oshane Thomas picked up a hat-trick to snuff out any hopes of a comeback from The Chennai Braves unit who eventually fell 20 runs short of the target on Wednesday.
With Northern Warriors picking up two points from the contest, the Chennai Braves now remain the only side in the tournament without a win.
Chasing a massive total of 153, the Dasun Sanaka led team needed a start as good as their opponents. Opener Mohammad Shahzad swung his bat at everything, eventually getting out on the sixth ball he faced.
Angelo Perera joined hands with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and the duo raised hopes of a fightback with some big hits as they took the score to 49.
Abhimanyu Mithun, however, soon disturbed the stumps of Perera before Rajapaksa holed out in the next over to give Imran Tahir his solitary wicket of the evening. The innings lost momentum after the departure of the Sri Lankan batsmen and The Chennai Braves kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
With the required run-rate mounting, Braves batsmen were forced to take risks and Oshane Thomas proved to be a beneficiary of this. Thomas removed Mark Deyal, Tion Webster, and Campher in his second over to finish with a hat-trick against his name.
The chase folded up in 9.5 overs as The Chennai Braves finished with 133.
Earlier, Northern Warriors who have struggled with their opening combination throughout the competition, finally sent Moeen to open the batting with Lewis earlier in the evening.
The right hand-left hand combination took a couple of overs to get going but sent The Chennai Braves on a leather hunt from third over onwards.
There was no let-up in the intensity from either of the batsmen, resulting in the Warriors reaching the triple-figure mark in just 35 balls before scoring 152 in 10 overs.
Brief scores: Northern Warriors 152/4 (Moeen Ali 49, Kennar Lewis 49; Mark Deyal 2-10) vs The Chennai Braves 133/10 (Bhanuka Rajapaksa 34, Ravi Bopara 30; Oshane Thomas 3-21)
