Khuzaima Tanveer's stirring 4-10 sets up Desert Vipers' win

UAE pacer Khuzaima Tanveer's stirring spell of bowling in the early stages of the game hamstrung Gulf Giants, who still managed a total beyond 150 but finished second-best on the night to Desert Vipers.

Tanveer picked all four of his wickets - Rahmanullah Gurbaz, James Vince, Pathum Nissanka and Gerhard Erasmus - inside the PowerPlay and finished with figures of 4/10 - a spell including 16 dot balls. Giants still managed to post 157/7, a total that the Desert Vipers chased down by the 17th over through the efforts of Sam Curran (67* off 43) and Max Holden (64* off 41).

The Giants were down to 30/4 in the PowerPlay courtesy Tanveer, and needed a strong recovery. Kyle Mayers attempted to offer that but Noor Ahmad stopped him in his tracks in the 10th over, reducing the Giants to 67/5 at the halfway stage. Asif Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai added 49 off the next 6.5 overs to arrest the slide before Liam Dawson arrived swinging for the fences. The No. 9 batter hit three fours and three sixes on his way to an unbeaten 38 off 14 balls.

Vipers lost a couple of wickets inside the PowerPlay to give Giants some hope but there was no way out once Holden and Curran got together. Between them, they slammed 13 fours, with the latter also tonking three sixes as their undefeated stand worth 123 runs off just 77 balls took their team past the finish line with ease.

Brief Scores: Gulf Giants 157/7 in 20 overs (Liam Dawson 38*, Asif Khan 36; Khuzaima Tanveer 4-10, Noor Ahmad 2-22) lost to Desert Vipers 158/2 in 16.5 overs (Sam Curran 67*, Max Holden 64*) by 8 wickets.