ABU DHABI: An all-round performance led by Piyush Chawla powered the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to a four-wicket victory over Gulf Giants at Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday. It was their second straight win and lifted them into fourth place in the ILT20 standings.

Chasing 166, the Knight Riders got off to a strong start courtesy of openers Alex Hales and Phil Salt, who racked up 61 runs in the first seven overs. Salt struck 35 off 24 balls, reaching the milestone of 8,000 career T20 runs, while Hales anchored the chase with 46 off 39.

Tabraiz Shamsi briefly lifted the Giants back into contention, taking 3 for 23, removing Salt, Liam Livingstone and Alishan Sharafu, but Sherfane Rutherford’s brisk 30 off 22, and a composed, unbeaten 21 from Andre Russell ensured the Knight Riders reached the target with four balls to spare.

Earlier, Chawla enjoyed a decisive spell during which he took 4 for 27 as the Giants were restricted to 165 for 7, despite a fluent 72 from Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The Afghan opener hit four fours and five sixes in a dominant knock that carried the Giants through the middle overs.

Thanks to him and James Vince, the Giants reached 59 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, before Chawla struck to remove Vince and then Moeen Ali, triggering a collapse. Ajay Kumar and Jason Holder applied further pressure, before Chawla dismissed Azmatullah Omarzai and Matthew Forde in the 16th over to further derail the innings. A late run from Asif Khan proved insufficient as the bowlers closed strongly.

Player of the match Chawla said: “When I started out, I never imagined cricket would become my profession. I played purely for the joy of it and that passion is still there.

“The googly has always come naturally to me, so right now I’m spending more time working on my leg-breaks, experimenting with angles and a slightly more side-on action to get extra turn and put doubt in the batter’s mind.”

Vince, captain of the Giants, said his side fell short of setting a competitive total despite a strong start.

“At one stage we were looking at 190 or even 200, so in the end we were probably 20 to 30 runs short,” he said. “Without those extra runs, the pressure on them early in the chase was minimal and the required rate stayed under control.

“I was proud of how we fought back after a tough start. It’s easy to drop off when a team scores quickly in the powerplay, but Shamsi’s wickets brought us back into the game and gave us belief.”