T10 League: Gladiators on top, destroy Tigers

The Deccan Gladiators battled it out with the Bangla Tigers in Match No.27 of the Abu Dhabi T10 League on Wednesday.

Before the match, the Gladiators were placed second in the points table with six wins and three losses in nine matches.

The Bangla Tigers were third in the points table with five wins and three losses in eight games.

The last time the two sides met, the Bangla Tigers had dismantled Deccan Gladiators by nine wickets. 

However things turned out differently.

By the time the match ended, the Gladiators had ascended to the top of the standings with a one-sided win over the Tigers.

Hasaranga the magician

The Gladiators owed their victory to the brilliant Sri Lankan.

In his first over, he dismissed Karim Janat before bowling Johnson Charles with a googly the very next delivery.

Isuru Udana just managed to survive the hat-trick ball.

In his second over, Hasaranga displayed the full extent of his mastery.

He got rid of Benny Howell who attempted a reverse sweep but found Tymal Mills at backward point.

The following ball, James Faulkner played across the line, missing the ball entirely and was bowled.

Vishnu Sukumaran came out next but didn’t survive long.

Another three dot balls followed, before Sukumaran pulled one straight to the fielder.

Amazingly, Hasaranga completed a five-for and achieved the best figures in T10 history.

Kohler-Cadmore explodes

It’s indeed hard to imagine that even after his exploits with the ball, Hasaranga didn’t bag the MOM award.

That accolade went to the batter from Yorkshire, Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

Kohler-Cadmore agonisingly fell four short of what would have been the first ever century of the Abu Dhabi T10.

In 2019, Chris Lynn ended unbeaten with 91* off deliveries and no one had reached the nineties since.

Kohler-Cadmore’s brutal 96 came off just 39 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes.

He had managed just 46 runs in his last six innings, including a golden duck last time out.

So this was a great comeback and showed his mental strength.

Luck favoured him too, having being dropped when he was on 24, off James Faulkner.

But it is to his credit that he made it count.

Thanks to Kohler-Cadmore, the Gladiators reached 140.

Disappointingly, the Tigers folded up for just 78, making it a no-contest.

Deccan Gladiators 140 for 1 (Kohler-Cadmore 96) beat Bangla Tigers 78 (Udana 33, Hasaranga 5-8) by 62 runs