Desert Vipers ride on Tanveer's heroics to continue winning start

Desert Vipers continued their winning start to ILT20 2025-26 overcoming Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in a thrilling encounter in Sharjah, successfully chasing down the target of 175 with three balls and two wickets to spare. Shimron Hetmyer's quickfire 48 off 25 along with a blistering 12-ball 31 from Khuzaima Tanveer took the Vipers home.
Sent in to bat, ADKR began with gun opener Phil Salt taking on Naseem Shah for a four and a six in the first over. Fellow Englishman Alex Hales too chipped in with some quick boundaries as the English openers got ADKR to a decent start of 39 for 0 in five overs.
Qais Ahmed dropped Salt off Naseem in the fifth over but the legspinner redeemed himself with the wicket of the Englishman with his first ball in the next over which was funnily caught by Naseem himself.
Hales continued to play his shots including a no-look-six off Sam Curran before bringing up his 50 off another maximum. Alishan Sharafu put on a 63-run stand with Hales before falling to Noor Ahmad for 25. It was back-to-back blows for ADKR as Noor picked up Hales in his next over. Power hitters Sherfane Rutherford and Liam Livingstone fell cheaply as ADKR slipped to 125 for 5 in 15 overs.
Andre Russell then scored 36 off 23 with three fours and two sixes, taking a liking to Tanveer in an 18-run 18th over to take the batting side to 171 for 6 in their allotted overs.
In reply, Andries Gous smashed four boundaries in the first over as the Vipers got off to a rollicking start. His innings ended shortly after failing to put away a drag-down from Sunil Narine. Fakhar Zaman and Max Holden fell cheaply as the Vipers were suddenly 34 for 3. Curran and Englishman Dan Lawrence rebuilt the innings with a quiet partnership of 32 which came in 31 balls before the former fell to Piyush Chawla.
This brought Hetmyer to the crease who wasted no time in punishing the erroneous lines and lengths of the ADKR bowlers. He pulled Narine to the stands twice, who served up half-trackers. But ADKR weren't done there as they roared back in with the quick wickets of Lawrence and Hasan Nawaz. Russell then picked up Hetmyer to leave the Vipers at 143 for 7.
But just when it seemed like it was all over., Tanveer played an incredible knock of 31 which consisted off two fours and two sixes. He ended the chase with a six and a four to take the Vipers to victory.