Gulf Giants came up with a ruthless all-round performance as they blew Dubai Capitals away to make it three wins in three games in the inaugural ILT20. Asked to bat first, Giants put up 181/6 on the board before their bowlers ran through their opponents to bowl them out for just 80 inside 15 overs.
Rehan Ahmed kicked off in style with a hat-trick of boundaries in the second over of the game but was soon sent back by Isuru Udana. James Vince then took over and guided the side to 48/1 by the end of the powerplay.
Chris Lynn struggled for timing on the evening but Vince kept going. He smashed Fabian Allen for a couple of sixes and a four off successive deliveries and brought up his third straight fifty in the tournament.
Two more sixes off Mujeeb Ur Rahman followed as Vince set himself up for a huge score. But Capitals staged a commendable fightback with quick wickets as the batting side went from 104/1 to 121/5 pretty quick.
There was a real danger of Giants collapsing at that stage but Shimron Hetmyer stepped up when his side needed him the most and came up with a vital cameo where he cleared the ropes thrice to guide them past 180 eventually.
That target proved to be too much for Capitals especially after losing the in-form Robin Uthappa early in the chase. Joe Root fetched three boundaries but struggled for most parts and also watched batters fall in quick succession at the other end. David Wiese removed Chirag Suri and Rovman Powell in the same over and got rid of Yusuf Pathan as well to register stunning figures of 3/3 in his two overs.
With Rehan Ahmed castling Root, half the side were already back in the pavilion with just 44 runs on the board. Apart from Root, only Dasun Shanaka managed to touch double digits as Chris Jordan hit the woodwork thrice towards the end to clean up Capitals for just 80.
Brief scores: Gulf Giants 181/6 in 20 overs (James Vince 76, Shimron Hetmyer 37*; Akif Raja 2/23) beat Dubai Capitals 80 in 14.3 overs (Dasun Shanaka 23; David Wiese 3/3, Chris Jordan 3/12) by 101 runs.