Desert Vipers captain Colin Munro won hearts for his incredible gesture towards his New Zealand teamate Martin Guptill. Munro showed great sportsmanship by withdrawing a run out appeal against Guptill during an International T20 league match between the Desert Vipers and Sharjah Warriors. On the first ball of the 12th over, England batter Joe Denly smashed Shadab Khan‘s full-length delivery down the ground. However, his attempt hit Guptill instead.
The ball hit Guptill on his gloves and deflected towards Shadab, who took out the bails with the non-striker out of his crease.
While Shadab made a half-hearted shout for a run-out, even though Guptill was out of his crease, Guptill decided to withdraw the appeal.
Being a good sport goes above being good at the sport.
Hats off to the @TheDesertVipers skipper for playing a fair game#DPWorldILT20 #AllInForCricket #DVvSW pic.twitter.com/IotodgnKs7
— International League T20 (@ILT20Official) January 28, 2024
Captain Tom-Kohler Cadmore, through an aggressive 68 off 34 balls studded with eight sixes and two boundaries, guided the Sharjah Warriors to a hard-fought seven-run win over Desert Vipers in the 13th match of the ILT20 season 2 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
His 101-run partnership in 53 balls for the third wicket with Martin Guptill, who scored 39 off 32 balls with four fours and one six, gave his team a challenging total of 174 for 7 in 20 overs.
The Sunday crowd of nearly 13,000 were in for a great treat when Vipers tried to chase the target through Alex Hales‘s 61 off 40 balls with five sixes and three boundaries and Azam Khan‘s fighting 35 off 22 balls.
Together, the pair put 52 runs in 33 balls for the fifth wicket but failed to carry their team to victory.
Earlier, Wanindu Hasaranga had put the brakes on Sharjah Warriors’ run flow with three wickets in the 16th over for figures of 3 for 30. Luke Wood too chipped in with three wickets for 33 runs, but all their efforts went in vain.
So close was the fight that when Vipers needed 22 runs to win off the last 12 balls, Daniel Sams gave away only six runs in the penultimate over. Needing 16 runs off the last over, Muhammad Jawadullah held his nerves and bowled accurately giving away just eight runs to ensure Warriors’ victory.
(With ANI Inputs)
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