Nissanka powers Gulf Giants to winning start

Gulf Giants began their ILT20 campaign with a statement win over the MI Emirates in Dubai as they chased down the target of 164 in just 14.4 overs with six wickets to spare. Pathum Nissanka (81 off 42) led the charge while Azmatullah Omarzai (39* off 16) played a blinder of a cameo to comfortably seal the win for the Giants. Earlier, T20 veteran Kieron Pollard scored 50 off 33 deliveries to take MI Emirates to 163 for 6, which was eventually well short.
After opting to bowl, the Giants got off to a great start with Muhammad Waseem falling in the first over. It was an excellent PowerPlay for the Giants as Nuwan Thushara, Matthew Forde and Omarzai not only kept the scoring in check but also sent the English duo of Tom Banton and Jonny Bairstow back to the pavilion cheaply. With the batting side at 36 for 3 at the end of the PowerPlay, Nicholas Pooran played some crisp drives to the fence through the covers.
MI Emirates were pushed further back to 58 for 4 at the end of 10 overs as Moeen Ali had Tajinder Dhillon were stumped. In desperate need of a miracle, Pollard began the charge smashing three consecutive sixes off Tabraiz Shamsi in the 13th over. Pooran got into the act too as the runs started flowing off his willow as well. Pooran fell in the 18th over on 46 after the West Indian duo had put on 78 off 48 balls, nicking behind, and falling two short of 10,000 T20 runs. Romario Shepherd hit two fours and a six in an 18-run 19th over before Pollard got to his 67th T20 50. He fell off the next delivery but Rashid Khan came out and bludgeoned the final ball of the innings into the stands.
Recent English retiree Chris Woakes got the ball swinging in the first over and had Rahmanullah Gurbaz dismissed immediately after being smashed for a six. Things got better for Woakes as Gerhard Erasmus chopped back on in his next over, leaving the Giants at 16 for 2. Nissanka began with two consecutive boundaries off Woakes in the fifth over to get some momentum in his innings. Moeen powered two sixes off the last PowerPlay over as the Giants raced to 54 for 2.
After a 47-run recovery stand in decent time off 31 balls, Moeen was caught ball-watching and run out by Dhillon. Nissanka continued to power on with a slog-sweep off Rashid, and followed it up with a six off Muhammad Rohid Khan to bring up his 50. Omarzai took the mantle against his Afghan captain - Rashid - and smashed him for 4,6,0,6,6,1 in a 23-run over of mayhem to put the Giants on top.
It continued to rain sixes with Nissanka slamming two sixes off Fazalhaq Farooqi before taking Woakes for 19 runs in the 14th over. Nissanka finally fell to AM Ghazanfar with seven runs to get, who took a wonderful catch off his own bowling. It brought an end to a wonderful partnership (97 off 41 balls) of pure hitting. A five-wides in the same over sealed the deal for the Giants.