Team Abu Dhabi vs Bangla Tigers: T10 League

Faf du Plessis won the toss on his debut in the Abu Dhabi T10 League for Bangla Tigers and opted to bowl. He seemed to be vindicated when Bangla Tigers took two wickets in the first two overs. From then on though, it was the Paul Stirling and Chris Gayle storm which hit the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Paul Stirling took 14 runs off Luke Wood in the third over and the Universe Boss cut loose in the fifth over – smashing 29 runs off Sabir Rao, hitting three sixes and a four. It was the turn of Stirling in the next over, as he blitzed three sixes and a four off Qais Ahmed to make it consecutive 29-run overs and Team Abu Dhabi ended with 145/4.

The Bangla Tigers seemed to have the perfect response as Andre Fletcher took 18 runs off the first over from Sheldon Cottrell. However, Marchant de Lange took out Faf du Plessis for a duck and dismissed Fletcher off the last ball to make it a double strike in the second over. Team Abu Dhabi captain Liam Livingstone picked Johnson Charles in the third over to completely halt Bangla Tigers’ chase in the T10 League. It is a wonderful league for the destructive batsman around the world.

Judging by the way Gayle helped to get Team Abu Dhabi’s campaign off to a flyer on Friday evening at the Zayed Cricket Ground, he seems a man who, even at the age of 42, still has more than enough in his armoury to destroy bowling attacks around the world, regardless of the format of the game or the colour that he wears in the T10 League. Alongside Paul Stirling, in the bright yellow of Team Abu Dhabi, the pair of them shone and added a remarkable 97 runs in just five overs, taking much of the Bangla Tigers attack to the cleaners and in doing so, taking the game away from Faf du Plessis’ side in quite brutal fashion.

Stirling ended with 59 off 23, including six fours and five sixes, whilst Gayle finished unbeaten on 49 off 23, with five sixes of his own. Their combined tally was more than Bangla Tigers could manage in their entire innings. It was an exhibition of explosive and ferocious six-hitting for the Abu Dhabi crowd that earlier got to witness Delhi Bulls defeat the defending champions, Northern Warriors.” It’s a great way to start from a team point of view,” Gayle said. “

All of the guys played their part, Stirling batted well, [Marchant] de Lange with the ball, the captain with the ball as well – everyone played their part.”Stirlo was fantastic and we were just having fun out there. He executed well today and I think he’ll love this wicket and score a lot of runs on this wicket in T10 League.

On his own performance, Gayle added: “It’s good to be in the runs and hopefully it can continue tomorrow.” The numbers alone spoke of carnage. Sixty runs came in the space of the fifth and sixth overs. Spare a thought for Sabir Rao who was smashed for 29 in an over and Qais Ahmed, dispatched for 31 in the next. Neither of them returned to the attack.

Such is the brutality of this format, no bowler is permitted more than two overs and the last thing that du Plessis would have thought about doing would be to give Gayle and Stirling another sniff. These two players have performed brilliantly in the T10 League for the team and shared an remarkable opening stand for Team Abu Dhabi to go past the finish line.

Coming to his fifth Season, the T10 League has shown remarkable heights and the team also have played well. We have seen many players in the T10 League, who would smash sixes out off the park and this is something Cricket need these days. There has been a tremendous increase in the number of followers of the T10 League. I am also a huge fan of this league.