Dhaka Warriors won their first match in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) 20-20 Championship beating Delhi Giants by 62 runs at the Sardar Vallabbhai Patel stadium in Ahmedabad.
Chasing a target of 175 set by the Warriors, the Giants could not take off as they lost two quick wickets in Monish Mishra (3) and TP Sudhindra (0) in the fourth over with only 24 runs on the board.
Opener Avishka Gunawardene was run out in the very next over after scoring 22 off 19 balls.
Poor performance by skipper Marvan Atapattu (10) followed by Abbas Ali (8) and Paul Nixon (3) put Giants in deep trouble as they were down six wickets in the 11th over with just 51 runs on board.
A mature unbeaten innings of 33 by Abhinav Bali off 25 balls was the saving grace for the Giants who were all out for 112 in 18.4 overs.
For the Warriors, Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Rafique and Mosharraf Hossain claimed two wickets each while Aftab Ahmed and Alok Kapali grabbed one each.
The match saw some good fielding by the Warriors who won the match by 62 runs.
Earlier, Giants won the toss and put Warriors to bat. The Warriors opened their account with their left right combination of Shahriar Nafees and Nazimuddin.
The openers got off to a flying start with Nazimuddin hitting a sparkling half-century to put up a 91-run partnership for the first wicket with Nafees. He was the first to go as he was caught off the delivery of Jai Yadav in the ninth over after scoring 54 off 29 balls, which included five fours and as many sixes.
Later Nafees got out leg-before to Shalabh Srivastava in the very next over scoring 30 off 27 deliveries.
Giants were back in the match in the 12th over with Asif Murtaza, claiming the wicket of Aftab Ahmed with only 6 runs against his name.
But a 46-run partnership between skipper Habib Ul Bashar and Alok Kapali (34) for the fourth wicket proved a blessing for the Warriors.
An unbeaten knock from Bashar, 28 runs off 23 balls, saw the Warriors finish their innings at a very competitive 174/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
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