Sam Curran and his Desert Vipers side gained a semblance of revenge on Gulbadin Naib’s Dubai Capitals as the new DP World International League T20 season started in one-sided fashion.
The latter stage of this tournament coincides with Christmas, but the Vipers got the present they were hoping for within four overs of the campaign starting.
Off the second ball of the third over of the game, Curran dismissed Gulbadin for a golden duck with a stunning one handed catch off his own bowling.
To say the Vipers find the Afghan all-rounder antagonising understates the point. In last season’s final, they had been openly hostile towards him – only to finish up on the losing side.
Then, on the eve of the new campaign, Gulbadin had smugly said “defeating Desert Vipers again and again” had been his favourite memory of last season.
With that in mind, his early dismissal, and their subsequent easy win, will have tasted particularly sweet.
When the players arrived at the ground, they must have been shocked by what awaited them inside. Almost all available seats had been filled up to 90 minutes before the game.
The only significant expanse of empty space was the seats that were covered by a huge banner referencing the 54th National Day.
The urgency of the crowd was highly unusual. Even India v Pakistan matches – the hottest ticket in cricket – at this stadium have usually had plenty of empty seats when the first ball has been bowled, let alone so far in advance of the start.
Maybe they were all fans of Ali Zafar, the Pakistani singer who had been hired to perform the opening night show. Or pyrotechnics. They were certainly treated to a spectacular fireworks display, which was coloured to match the Eid Al Etihad celebrations.
The enthusiasm fizzled out quickly once the cricket started, though. Even the narrative of the Curran-Gulbadin rivalry seemed not to captivate many.
At the break between innings, there was a sizeable exodus, as supporters headed home. Before the second innings had even 10 overs, the stands were echoing, with perhaps 90 percent of the initial attendees having made their exit.
Although the Vipers' chase wobbled slightly with the victory target of 151 in sight, they still managed it with four wickets to spare, and an over in hand.
Vriitya Aravind, on his return to ILT20 cricket after some time in both franchise and international cricket wilderness, took a fine catch for the first dismissal of the tournament.
At first it appeared as though there could be a four-man collision, as a group of Vipers fielders chased a skier off the bat of Sediqullah Atal, Capitals’ Afghan opener. But Aravind shouldered the responsibility, and took a fine catch.
The other UAE pick in the Vipers side, fast bowler Khuzaima Tanveer, impressed again. First, he dismissed Shayan Jahangir. Later, he struck back pluckily having suffered at the hands of Rovman Powell.
In addition to the rule that each starting XI must have two UAE players in it, there is also a place reserved for a player from another Associate country.
That player was the outstanding performer in the chase. Andries Gous, whose United States side had recently enjoyed a cleansweep of four one-day internationals in this city, made 58 in 36 balls to power the Vipers run chase.
