Roy's 84* hands Chennai Braves thrilling win; Perera, bowlers star in NY Strikers' comfortable win

A 20-ball 50 from Kusal Perera combined with the efforts of bowlers gave New York Strikers their first win of the season as they beat Bangla Tigers by eight wickets.

Having been put in, Tigers lost opener Chris Lynn third ball of the innings to left-arm quick Muhammad Jawadullah. Kusal Mendis then joined Jordan Cox to plunder 59 runs off the next 24 balls before Jawadullah struck again in the fifth over to remove the latter. In the next over, Sunil Narine had Mendis caught at deep midwicket. Tigers' innings never took off after that, as Chamika Karunaratne and Akeal Hosein struck to restrict them to 101 for 7.

In return, Strikers lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz early, but Muhammad Waseem and Perera struck a strong partnership, making 58 runs together off 28 deliveries. Benny Howell removed Waseem in the seventh over for the breakthrough, but Perera launched him for 4, 6, 4 in the same over to take Strikers closer to win. With 11 runs needed off 18 balls, Perera then hit a four off the first ball of the eighth over and then launched a six fourth ball to hand Strikers a comfortable win.

Leus du Plooy and Colin Ingram combined to smash 17 off the last over, but Team Abu Dhabi still fell short by four runs in a thrilling finish against Chennai Braves. Abu Dhabi needed five to win off the last ball, but du Plooy was beaten by Obed McCoy, who bowled a dot ball to end the game.

Abu Dhabi were set 116 by Braves on the back of Jason Roy's unbeaten 84 from 39 balls, which featured six fours and seven sixes; the next best score by a Braves batter was Kobe Herft's 14. Roy led the way by helping clobber 48 in the last three overs to take Braves up to 115, even as Abu Dhabi's captain Dwaine Pretorius removed Stephen Eskinazi on the fourth ball of the eighth over, before running Charith Asalanka for a duck next ball.

But Abu Dhabi couldn't keep pace with the run chase during the middle overs, leaving themselves with another 61 to get from the final four overs. That is when du Plooy and Ingram joined hands. Although they took 32 off the next two overs, Sam Cook allowed just seven runs in the ninth to leave Abu Dhabi with 22 required in the final over. Eventually, du Plooy cracked 47 not out off just 18 balls, but missed the final delivery as Braves scraped through.

Delhi Bulls' top three thrashed their way to the target of 121 in just 8.3 overs, stunning Deccan Gladiators by nine wickets to start their Abu Dhabi T10 season with a victory. Opening batters Quinton de Kock and Johnson Charles bashed 73 in five overs to set the tone for Bulls, for whom captain Rovman Powell then completed the chase in a hurry.

Powell finished unbeaten on 31 off only 12 balls, smashing five fours and a six on the way, after Charles fell for 36 from 13 deliveries, with as many fours but one more six. Those rapid cameos all but sidelined de Kock's innings of 50 not out - his strike rate of 192 felt pretty inferior to that of Charles' 276 and Powell's 258 - and put the efforts of Gladiators' batters in vain.

Gladiators had opted to bat, and were led by Tom Kohler-Cadmore for the second successive night, as he followed up an undefeated 68 against New York Strikers with 42 against Bulls at double the pace. Andre Fletcher hit 34 off 20 balls, while Andre Russell's cameo of 19 from only five deliveries provided the finishing touches. But all that wouldn't prove to be enough in the end.