MI Emirates stroll to victory in ILT20 opener

Muhammad Waseem starred for MI Emirates as they hammered Sharjah Warriors to get their campaign off to a perfect start

Abu Dhabi: MI Emirates 204-5, Sharjah Warriors 155-9 - MI Emirates win by 49 runs

Scorecard

MI Emirates began their ILT20 campaign with a bang, comfortably overpowering Sharjah Warriors to win by 49 runs.

Teams are only compelled by tournament regulations to pick two local players in a playing XI, but UAE opener Muhammad Waseem overshadowed his star-studded teammates with a 39-ball 71 that setup a total of 204 for 5, which proved ample.

Waseem hit five sixes and fell with five-and-a-half overs still remaining after Chris Woakes had taken the early wicket of Will Smeed (2) and then returned to have Andre Fletcher well caught behind by Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

Woakes conceded just 23 runs in his four overs, but none of his teammates were so economical: spinners Moeen Ali, Karthik Meiyappan, Mohammad Nabi and Joe Denly conceded 98 runs between them in eight overs.

Nicholas Pooran, one of three former West Indies white-ball captains in MI's middle order, was a useful foil, making 49 before holing out to Denly at deep midwicket, with Najibullah Zadran beaten for pace first ball, top-edging Junaid Siddique to Gurbaz for his third catch.

^{Chris Woakes had an excellent night with bat and ball (Paul Kane/Getty Images)}

Dwayne Bravo (21*) and Kieron Pollard (22*) ensured no earlier momentum was lost, though, continuing the onslaught through to the end of their 20 overs.

Warriors' reply never got going, with Afghanistan left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi forcing Evin Lewis to drag a wild drive onto his stumps, before trapping Dawid Malan in front with the next delivery, which nipped in off the seam and thudded into his knee-roll.

Sharjah never recovered from that double blow despite Gurbaz playing a fine hand for 43 in 31 balls. But Moeen ballooned to long-on for 15 and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (10) missed a hack off Imran Tahir – one of three wickets for the veteran leg-spinner, who also accounted for Denly and Nabi as the run-chase subsided, with MI easy winners in the end despite a cameo from Woakes (62).

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