Andries Gous slammed a 36-ball 58 and added a whirlwind opening partnership with Fakhar Zaman to set up Desert Vipers' chase in the season opener of the ILT20. Defending champions Dubai Capitals managed to pull back a little and ruffle feathers through the middle but couldn't eventually defend their total of 150/8.

Gous and Zaman started brightly and truly took the toll on the opposition when they combined to smash 21 runs off left-arm pacer Muhammad Jawadullah in the fourth over - with two fours and two sixes. Zaman then hit a six off Mohammad Nabi in the fifth over, but the spinner dismissed him a ball later. By this time however, the pair had already added 50 runs for the first wicket - wiping out one-third of the target in just 4.4 overs. Gous went on to maximise the final over of the PowerPlay too, hitting Scott Currie for three fours as the Vipers finished with 64/1 in six overs. There was a slowdown in the post-PowerPlay period though Vipers remained on top.

On the other side of the timeout however, Gulbadin Naib dismissed Max Holden. A double-wicket over from Waqar Salamkheil threatened to derail the chase. The left-arm spinner dismissed Sam Curran and also cleaned up Gous. Even at this stage, the game was in Vipers' control with 42 needed off as many deliveries. Dan Lawrence came out swinging while Shimron Hetmyer hit a four too, to further dwarf what was required of the chasing team. Currie dismissed Hetmyer but the equation was now at 23 off 30 balls. Haider Ali then bowled an excellent four-run over to keep the Capitals interested. Currie too followed up with an excellent start to the following over where he gave away just one run in four balls and dismissed Hasan Nawaz on the fifth, but Khuzaima Tanveer hit a four first ball. Lawrence and Tanveer then polished off the remaining 14 runs over the next two overs to earn the win.

Before the batters took a successful stab at the chase, it was Vipers' bowlers who truly set the game up. Naseem Shah, Curran, Jordon Cox and Tanveer had them down to 42/4 in the seventh over. David Willey then struggled on his way to a 22-ball 10 before being cleaned up by Noor Ahmad. Powell then found an able ally in Nabi, as they added 34 off 22 deliveries. They just about dragged the team past the 100-run mark when Tanveer struck to remove Powell. Nabi and Shanaka then threw their bats around to collect 48 runs off the last five overs to get to 150, but it wasn't sufficient on the night.

Brief Scores: Dubai Capitals 150/8 in 20 overs (Rovman Powell 39, Mohammad Nabi 29; Noor Ahmad 2-25, David Payne 2-26, Khuzaima Tanveer 2-35) lost to Desert Vipers 151/6 in 19 overs (Andries Gous 58, Fakhar Zaman 26; Waqar Salamkheil 2-18, Scott Currie 2-36) by 4 wickets