Dubai Capitals 191 for 6 (Powell 63, Hope 43, Raza 34*, Payne 2-28) beat Desert Vipers 189 for 5 (Holden 76, Curran 62*, McCoy 2-44) by four wickets
Powell’s second life the turning point
Capitals were in trouble early in their chase of 190, with David Warner chopping on off David Payne and Mohammad Amir removing Gulbadin Naib and Sam Billings, who was also dropped off Amir three balls before his dismissal.
Vipers almost had another one when Nathan Sowter had Powell stumped down the leg side, but the third umpire caught Azam bringing his gloves beside the stumps before collecting the ball and it was declared a no-ball.
That proved to be the turning point in the game as Powell, who was on 2 off 6 at the time, switched gears to wrestle momentum away from Vipers. He hit Sowter for a six before crashing 15 off the 16 runs Curran conceded off the next over, with two fours and a six.
Hope picked up the pace as well, hitting Sowter for a six as the next two overs fetched Capitals 21 runs.
Even as Curran accounted for Hope, Powell kept going, while Dasun Shanaka joined in with an impactful cameo of 21 off 10.
Raza applies finishing touches
With 38 still needed off 19 deliveries, the job was far from done but Raza ensured Capitals went over the line.
Raza and Powell picked up a boundary each off the 18th over, before Sowter finally had his man when Powell was caught at backward point.
However, Raza hit three fours off four balls in the next over to leave Capitals with just nine needed off the final over.
Raza finished the game in style, hitting Khuzaima Tanveer for a six and four off the first two balls of the last over to seal a win without any more drama.
More to follow
