Captain Dwayne Bravo and Eoin Morgan’s vital partnership ensured Delhi Bulls walked off with a five-wicket victory in their Abu Dhabi T10 match against The Chennai Braves on Sunday.
Put into bat by the Delhi Bulls, The Chennai Braves posted 124/2 in their 10 overs. In reply, Delhi Bulls lost their top four batters cheaply before the experienced duo of Bravo (43 runs from 17 balls) and Morgan (26* runs from 12 balls) strung a partnership of 56 runs in 22 balls to help Delhi Bulls chase down the target in 9.4 overs.
Delhi Bulls got off to the worst possible start as Indian pacer Munaf Patel removed both Rilee Rossouw and Sherfane Rutherford in the second over. To make matters worse, Roman Walker dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mohammad Hafeez in the fifth over as Delhi Bulls found themselves struggling at 51/4.
Thereafter, captain Dwayne Bravo got things moving for the Bulls as he smashed three boundaries off Dasun Shanaka in the sixth over. Curtis Campher kept The Chennai Braves' hopes alive when he removed Bravo in the ninth over. However, Morgan and Romario Shepherd scored 14 runs in the last over and closed out the game for the Delhi Bulls with two balls to spare.
Earlier, Bhanuka Rajapaksa played a blistering innings of unbeaten 64 off 31 balls that included 6 fours and 4 sixes to help The Chennai Braves post a grand total on the board. In the fourth over, Rajapaksa took on Mohammad Hafeez, smashing him for two boundaries and a six. The opening duo of Rajapaksa and Mark Deyal took some calculated risk to record an opening partnership of 81 runs from 34 balls.
After losing Deyal and Dasun Shanaka in quick succession, Ravi Bopara joined the party as he smacked Fazalhaq Farooqi and Romario Shepherd for a boundary and a six in the ninth and tenth overs respectively. Bopara remained unbeaten on 19 runs from 11 balls as The Chennai Braves reached 124/2 in their 10 overs.
Brief scores: Delhi Bulls 128/5 (Dwayne Bravo 43, Eoin Morgan 26*, Munaf Patel 2-20) beat The Chennai Braves 124/2 (Bhanuka Rajapaksa 64*, Mark Deyal 29, Romario Shepherd 1-16) by 5 wickets.
Featured photo: Delhi Bulls / Twitter
