Delhi Bulls 126 for 6 (Charles 40, Vince 37, Powell 35, McCoy 2-18) beat Chennai Braves 61 all out (Nabi 25, Rohid 2-14) by 65 runs
Chennai Braves collapsed to 61 in a chase of 127 as Delhi Bulls made it two in two to go to the top of the table.
In return, Braves’ chase never took off with Bulls bowlers striking regularly. Barring Mohammad Nabi (25 off 14), the rest of the batters finished with single-digit scores. Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ravi Bopara, Naveen-ul-Haq and Muhammad Rohid finished with two wickets each, as they helped wrap Braves up for 61 in 8.5 overs.
New York Strikers 92 for 7 (Waseen 23, Gurbaz 22) beat Northern Warriors 88 for 3 (Munro 44*) by three wickets
After choosing to bowl, New York got off to a superb start when West Indian left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein dismissed Kennar Lewis and conceded only five runs in the first over. Warriors were able to score only nine in their two powerplay overs and eventually managed only 88 in ten overs despite losing only three wickets. Hazratullah Zazai was especially slow, scoring only 17 runs off 21 balls.
New Zealand’s Colin Munro top-scored for Warriors with 44 off 27 with three sixes and three fours. Sunil Narine bowled two economical overs for New York, finishing with 0 for 11 in two overs. Just when Warriors seemed poised for a powerful finish – Munro and Jimmy Neesham smashed 18 runs off the penultimate over bowled by UAE’s Muhammad Jawadullah – England’s George Scrimshaw shut them down by giving away only six in the tenth over.
Muhammad Waseem and Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave New York a quick start to the chase, scoring 38 in 3.4 overs for the first wicket. And though none of the other batters got into double figures, they all scored quickly enough to ensure victory in 9.1 overs. Angelo Mathews, Abhimanyu Mithun and Tabraiz Shamsi took two wickets each for Warriors.
Holder, du Plessis and Janat power Samp Army to the top of the table
Samp Army 118 for 5 (Holder 29*, du Plessis 29, Janat 29, Mills 2-24) beat Team Abu Dhabi 83 for 8 (Sharafu 18*, Banton 16, Holder 3-12, Moeen 2-4) by 35 runs
Ibrahim Zadran got Samp Army off to a rapid start, smashing 17 runs off Kyle Mayers’ first over, but Rumman Raees had the opener spoon a catch to mid-off in the next over.
Faf du Plessis, who hadn’t faced a single delivery over the first two overs, took off in the third, smashing his compatriot Dwaine Pretorius for 24 runs with the help of three sixes and a four.
But there was a slight slowdown as Moeen and du Plessis fell in consecutive overs. Najibullah Zadran also got out, just as Janat started going, but Holder came in and helped Samp Army finish strong.
The two added 31 off 14 before Janat got out in the last over. But Holder had more to come for Team Abu Dhabi, smashing three sixes off the last three balls.
But Holder was not done dealing the damage yet as he caught Kyle Mayers off his own bowling with the very first delivery of the chase.
Team Abu Dhabi lost four wickets in the next three overs and from then on, Samp Army did not offer them a chance to get back in the game.
Holder ended up adding two more to his tally, while Moeen had a double-wicket over. Peter Hatzoglou, Qais Ahmad and Salman Irshad all picked a wicket each.