ILT20 serves huge drama in the Vipers-MI Emirates game as Nicholas Pooran declines stumping, Holden retires out.
In the ILT20 on Tuesday night, Desert Vipers defeated MI Emirates in a thrilling one-run match. Although the game was entertaining, nothing compared to what happened in the 16th over of the first innings, which featured a declined stumping and a retired out involving Nicholas Pooran and Max Holden off consecutive balls.
Vipers had begun the 16th over on 110 for 1 after losing the toss in Abu Dhabi and batting first. Sam Curran and Max Holden were in the middle, but they were doing nothing. Shimron Hetmyer and Dan Lawrence were in the shed after the previous four overs had scored precisely twenty runs.
After Curran scored a four and took a single off Rashid Khan, Vipers wanted to move on, and their top scorer of the innings, Englishman Holden, was on strike from the third ball. However, the third and fourth balls yielded no runs, and MI Emirates lost a review on the final one when Pooran thought Holden had nicked the ball, even though it had merely reached him off the pads. It went for two on the fifth ball.
The drama then started.
Holden to Rashid. Holden rushes down the track, aiming for maximum, but Rashid keeps the line wide, so he totally misses it. He doesn’t even try to return because he is that far down the pitch. Even though Pooran has the ball, he doesn’t want to stump it. Holden returns to ground his bat after realising what Pooran is up to.
“Oh! He did not stump him. Did not stump him,” the commentator says on the broadcast. “Wide is called. Could have stumped him by some distance.”
The ball after that. Heave-ho but no cigar, faster, flatter, and at the stumps. Part two of the incident then occurred: Holden immediately retired. Clearly tactical. It seems that it made the most sense for MI Emirates to keep the sluggish Holden on board. Vipers thought it would be preferable to give him a call back.
Curran finished with 19 off 19, so his presence wasn’t really helpful. However, Hetmyer, who took Holden’s place, hit 15 off nine, and Lawrence, who came out next, hit 15 off eight.
In the end, Vipers’ 41 runs from the final four overs proved to be crucial, as MI Emirates reached 158 for 9 in response to their 159 for 4.