Deccan Gladiators glide to a 22 runs win riding on Kohler-Cadmore’s belligerent unbeaten 68 in the Abu Dhabi T10 opener

By K.R. Nayar
From Zayed Cricket Stadium 

Abu Dhabi. A belligerent knock of 68 runs off 33 balls studded with four boundaries and six sixers from England’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore gave Deccan Gladiators a 22 runs win over New York Strikers in the opening match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. His knock gave Deccan Gladiators an impressive total off 118 for 8 and helped restrict New York Strikers to 96 for 6 through UAE’s medium pacer Zahoor Khan’s timely two wickets giving away just 12 runs.

 


Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of the T10 Sports Management, declared the tournament open with both teams lining up with the trophy before the start of the action.

 

Start of Abu Dhabi T10 with Shaji Ul Mulk declaring the tournament open  

Kohler-Cadmore batted with a strike rate of 206.06 with only 11 dot balls after New York Strikers captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bowl. Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir, who once bowled Pakistan to their Champions Trophy title triumph in the 2017 final at the Oval against India, opened the bowling giving away just three runs.  UAE left-arm pacer Muhammad Jawadullah, who bowled the second over, struck with the second ball to remove skipper Nicholas Pooran. He fell to a leading edge while attempting to hit across the line and landed up being caught by Asif Ali at mid-off for 1.

 


The third over from West Indies’s Akeal Hosein, saw one-drop Andre Fletcher getting run out while going for a second run for 2. The first four of this edition came from the bat of Kohler-Cadmre to long-on off Hosein.

 

Andre Russell scored the second boundary off Jawadullah to long-off. He also scored another boundary off USA’s Pakistan born Ali Khan to third man and hit the first six of this edition in the same over to long on. Ali Khan struck back by removing Russell with the last ball of the over having him caught at covers by his skipper Pollard for 17. At the half way mark, Deccan Gladiators were 42 for 3.

 


The sixth over swelled the total through Kohler-Cadmore’s two sixes off West Indies’s mystery spinner Sunil Narine as 16 runs came off it. The fluctuations that make T10 a treat to watch was visible in the seventh over. It saw Imad Wasim getting caught behind by wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz off Chamika Karunaratne and Fabian Allen falling to the very next ball. That over yielded just six runs and half the Deccan Gladiators side were back in the dug-out for 64 runs.

 


New York Strikers hoping to tightened grip re-introduced Amir but the free flowing Kohler Cadmore cracked a boundary off the third ball past point and then hit a six off the fifth ball over extra cover. Dan Lawrence got a boundary off the last ball too and Amir’s over cost 17 runs.

 

Kohler-Cadmore was unstoppable in the ninth over and hit Karunaratne for a boundary and six. He reached his half century in 27 balls. Karunaratne removed Dan Lawrence, caught by Akeal at long-on, for 10.  Deccan Gladiators reached the 100 run mark in the ninth over.

 


Kohler-Cadmore hit the first ball of the last over from Ali Khan for a six to long-on. Luke Wood got run out for 2 and so did Trent Boult to a fine throw from Pollard from long-off for a duck. Kohler-Cadmore ended the innings with another six to long-off to remain unbeaten on 68. It was his sixth six of his innings.

 

The New York Strikers innings began with their openers Kusal Perera and Rahmanullah Gurbaz taking on New Zealand pacer Trent Boult. He struck with the last ball of the first over by having Gurbaz caught by Russell at mid-on for a duck. Perera picked a boundary off Luke Wood’s second over but fell to UAE’s accurate medium pacer Zahoor Khan for 11. Lawrence took an easy catch at deep mid-wicket.

 


UAE’s Muhammad Waseem, who has always been a prolific scorer in T10 tournaments, began with a boundary off Zahoor Khan through extra cover. He hit the second and third ball from Nuwan Thushara for a six to deep mid-wicket and a boundary to mid-off. He also cleared the long-off fence for a six off Wood but going for another big shot landed up being caught by Imad Wasim at cover for 26.

 

At the half way mark, New York Strikers were 47 for 3, needing another 72 runs from the remaining five. Nuwan Thushara bowled a brilliant sixth over giving away just nine runs. In the seventh over, Pakistan’s Mohammad Zahid got Odean Smith out for 8, caught by Russell at long-on.



All eyes turned towards skipper Pollard. He hit Boult for a boundary through extra-cover while Pakistan’s Asif Ali too hit Boult for another boundary. With 36 runs needed off the last 12 balls, Asif Ali got run out for 24 while attempting a second run.

 

Zahoor got Pollard pull into the hands of Allen for 8. All hopes of New York Strikers faded with it. With 33 runs needed off the last six balls, Sunil Narine picked two boundaries off Mohammad Zahid to remain unbeaten on 10 and reduce their team’s margin of defeat to 22 runs.

 

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