Clinical, complete, dominant -- Our first game, our first win

MI Emirates put on a clinical show with both bat and ball to give their ILT20 campaign a flying start with a 49-run win of Sharjah Warriors here on Saturday.

Batting first, MI Emirates posted a challenging 204/5 anchored by youngster Mohammed Waseem (71 off 39). MI Emirates were off to a shaky start, suffering an early jolt when Will Smeed (2) skied one off Chris Woakes, only managing a top edge while going for a heave. 

But Andre Fletcer joined Waseem in the middle and the duo turned the tables for MI Emirates with some excellent, powerpacked batting.

With the conditions offering decent swing, the Sharjah pacers tried to put in the right line and length.

A change of bowling had Waseem smash Karthik Meiyappan with a couple of consecutive sixes. 

Chris Woakes returned to the attack in the 8th over and had an immediate impact, getting rid of Fletcher by inducing another top edge with wicketkeeper Gurbaz doing the honours behind the stumps.

That did not change MI's momentum however, as Nicolas Pooran and Waseem continued to score at a quick pace. 

Waseem departed in the 15th over while attempting another big hit off Mohammed Nabi, only to offer an easy skier at the  mid-wicket boundary.

Although MI Emirates lost late wickets with Pooran, and Najibulah Zadran departing off consecutive deliveries, skipper Keiron Pollard and his compatriot Dwayne Bravo comfortably took them past the 200-run mark. Bravo finished off the MI Emirates innings in style with a massive six down the ground.

Defending a comfortable total, the MI Emirates bowling attack made early in-roads with Afghan left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi claiming back-to-back wickets Ewin Lewis and David Malan. With Kiwi star Trent Boult maintaining the pressure at the other end, Sharjah’s first boundary came only in the third over. Gurbaz and Moeen Ali did put up a show with some power hitting.

With Bravo taking the wickets of both Moeen and Gurbaz, the match was as good as in the bag for MI Emirates as the rest of the Sharjah Warriors batters lost out with regular dismissals. Some lower-order fireworks by Chris Woakes (62 off 29) was the only saving grace for the Sharjah innings. Veteran spinner Imran Tahir provided the final flourish to a superb all-round performance by MI Emirates with 3 wickets in 2 overs.