Gurbaz, Vince, spinners take Gulf Giants back to winning ways

Gulf Giants got back to winning ways after losing a Super Over encounter in their last game. They chased down the target of 158 against the Sharjah Warriorz riding on Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 50 after Aayan Khan picked up 3 for 17 in his four overs to restrict the Warriorz to a chaseable score. The Warriorz have now lost each of their three opening fixtures.
The Warriorz began on a quick note as Johnson Charles hit two boundaries each in the first two overs. Mark Adair picked up Tom Kohler-Cadmore to deal the first blow. Kusal Mendis hit a four and a six soon after coming in to bat as the Warriorz ended the PowerPlay on 48 for 1. The introduction of Aayan in the eighth over by the Giants gave returns immediately with the wicket of Kusal. Liam Dawson kept the scoring quiet at the other end while Aayan got the big wicket of Charles in his very next over. Suddenly, they were 69 for 3 after 10 overs.
Dawson and Aayan conceded only 31 runs in from the 7th to 12th over. Tim David broke the shackles with couple of boundaries off Azmatullah Omarzai but Aayan got him to miscue one straight to the hands of Dawson. The English left-arm spinner was deservedly rewarded with the wicket of Sikandar Raza on the last ball of his spell as he finished with 4-0-21-1.
It was Dwaine Pretorius' cameo of 36 off 17 that propelled the Warriorz's innings in the death overs. After hitting two boundaries off Nuwan Thushara, he smashed Omarzai for two sixes and a four in the 19th over that yielded 20 runs before a boundary by Adil Rashid took them to 157 for 6.
The Giants were without in-form batter Pathum Nissanka who was asked to rest by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board which meant that James Vince and Gurbaz had opening duties. Vince got under Wasim Akram in the second over with three fours and a six in a 21-run over. Meanwhile, Gurbaz hit two maximums off Tim Southee as the Giants were racing away. They brought up the 50-stand at the start of the fifth over as things continued to look ominous for the Warriorz.
Raza broke the 78-run stand with the wicket of Vince and along with Maheesh Theekshana kept the scoring down in the middle overs. Gurbaz moved to 50 off Rashid in the 13th over but that was sandwiched by the wicket of Moeen Ali and his own a couple of balls later, holing out to David off Raza. With 37 to get off the last four overs, Omarzai broke the shackles with a six. A quiet over from Southee followed to bring the equation to 17 off 12. Omarzai hit a four off Rashid in the 19th over as they brought the equation down to 9 off 6. Omarzai smashed Southee for six before falling off the next delivery but it was too late for the Warriorz as Sean Dickson hit the winning runs.