WATCH: Sikandar Raza Shows Nerves of Steel to Win Match For Dubai Capitals With Last-ball Six

Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza held his nerves and hit a last-ball six to help his tea, Dubai Capitals registered a thrilling five-wicket win over Desert Vipers in the ILgt20 match on Friday. Raza played a match-winning knock of 60 runs* off 45 balls which was laced with five fours and two sixes at the Dubai International Stadium.

With 13 runs needed off the last over, UAE’s 19-year-old medium pacer Ali Naseer bowled a brave over, he did manage to put Dubai Capitals on backfoot on the first five balls.

However, Sikandar scored a clutch six when it mattered the most over long-on to help his team register a sensational win.

The Zimbabwe all-rounder orchestrated his team’s victory through a 79-run partnership in 54 balls for the fourth wicket with Sam Billings, who cracked 57 off 36 balls with five boundaries and two sixes, and a 40 runs partnership in 23 balls with Dasun Shanaka (10) for the fifth wicket.

Raza, who has in the last year, bagged 11 Player of the Match awards in T20s, the most by any player in the world, described his last-ball six: “I said to myself, I don’t think he will go short as I had hit one earlier out of the ground. I will hold my shape and try and hit it in the air and hit it as well as I can.”

Vipers had posted a challenging 171 for 7 through Alex Hales’ 66 off 37 balls with four boundaries and six sixes, and his 66 run opening partnership with Phil Salt (26). Other than Michael Jones’s cameo of 20, all the rest struggled for runs.

Chasing a run-rate of 8.55, the opening partnership between Tom Banton and Max Holden lasted only 16 runs. Holden fell to a superb leaping catch by Adam Hose at covers off Sam Curran for 8. Ben Dunk too got clean bowled to a delivery that beat him to hit the top of his off stump for 1. When Banton pulled Ali Naseer to Daniel Lawrence at deep square leg for 15, Capitals were in trouble.

By the halfway mark, Capitals needed 111 more runs. Billings raced to his 50 in 29 balls. Raza provided him with excellent support. In the 15th over, Matheesha Pathirana trapped Billings’ leg before with a yorker to end the partnership that was swelling to dangerous proportion.

Dasun Shanaka and Raza pushed the target closer with 29 runs needed off the last 18 balls. Raza reached his half-century in 38 balls. Sam Curran ended the Raza-Shanaka partnership of 40 runs in 23 balls by castling Shanaka for 10.

Earlier, bottom-placed Capitals won the toss and opted to bowl first against fifth-placed Vipers. Openers Philip Salt and Alex Hales gave a positive start to the innings by going for their shots. Hales hit Richard Ngarava for three sixes and two boundaries in the second over to take 26 runs off that over. Their 50-run partnership came in 3.1 overs with Hales scoring 40 of those runs. In the fifth over, Roelof van der Merwe broke the 66 runs partnership by getting Salt to reverse sweep him to Ngarava at short third man for 26.

Hales reached his half century in 25 balls hitting his sixth six and two boundaries. By the end of the eighth over, Vipers reached the 100 run mark. Dan Lawrence added 34 runs for the second wicket with Hales before becoming Van der Merwe’s second victim caught by Rahul Chopra at long-off for 15. Skipper Colin Munro departed quickly to an Olly Stone delivery that went through the bat-pad gap to hit the stumps for 6. Stone also struck to end Hales’s fine knock by making him play a pull shot but ended up gloving the ball to Ngarava at short fine leg.

The fall of quick wickets reduced the prospects of a huge score. Sikandar Raza trapped Adam Hose leg before for 7 and strangled the run flow too. Haider also trapped Sam Curran leg before. No boundaries were scored for 38 balls. Michael Jones, who hit 20 runs, sliced Scott Kuggeleijn to Shanaka at point to give Vipers to a challenging total.

Brief scores:

Dubai Capitals bt Desert Vipers by 5 wkts. Desert Vipers 171 for 7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 26, Alex Hales 66, Michael Jones 20, Olly Stone 2 for 31, Roelof van der Merwe 2 for 19) Dubai Capitals 172 for 5 in 20 overs (Sam Billings 57, Sikandar Raza 60n.o, Sam Curran 2 for 39)