Pakistan-born Jawadullah’s heroics in vain as Abu Dhabi trounces Sharjah in ILT20 clash

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-born UAE cricketer Muhammad Jawadullah was unable to secure a win for the Sharjah Warriors this week despite his “fabulous” performance, as the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders demolished them by seven wickets in the International League T20 cricket fixture. 

Jawadullah, an exciting prospect who also plays for the UAE’s national cricket team, put in an impressive performance when he returned figures of 3/5 from two overs. However, the left-arm bowler’s clinical bowling wasn’t enough to win his side the match, which was dismissed for a poor 75 runs in 17 overs by the Knight Riders. 

The Knight Riders raced to victory in 10.1 overs after their openers Joe Clarke and Michael Pepper put on a 54-run opening partnership in 5.2 overs. 

“Jawadullah took a fabulous 3-wicket haul for the Warriors, but the Knight Riders were able to finish the game with more than 10 overs to play,” the ILT20 wrote on social media platform. 

Jawadullah struck twice to remove Pepper caught by Joe Denly at cover and Alishan Sharafu, who was also caught by Denly at cover-point for a duck. The bowler also went on to dismiss Clarke, who was caught behind for 34 runs.

Ravi Bopara (4/15), Joshua Little (3/17) and David Willey (2/16) orchestrated Sharjah Warriors’ batting collapse at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday night. This was yet another lackluster performance from the Warriors’ batters, who scored one run more than their total of 74 against MI Emirates on the same ground in the ninth match of this year’s ILT20. 

The Warriors thus recorded their second-lowest total of the tournament against the Knight Riders. 

After their emphatic win on Monday, the Knight Riders are in second place with 10 points behind MI Emirates on 12. Both teams will be looking to consolidate their positions, leaving the other four to battle it out to for the remaining spots in the top four.