That's it from a low scoring thriller that finished on the final delivery of the 40th over! Magnificent display and composure from the Sharjah Warriorz keeps them alive in the tournament despite them being at the bottom of the table. As for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders - the qualification scenario has become even more difficult as they have to win their remaining match against Gulf Giants and hope that the other teams' results go their way. That will be it from our coverage today! Thank you for joining us. Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Saptak Sanyal and scorer Sachin Yadav. Stay tuned for more action from around the world.
Adil Rashid (Player of the Match):"It was quite nice to go for a few runs. In T20 cricket, bowling 18th and 20th over as a spinner can make you easily go for sixes and fours. But thankfully it went my way.
Obviously you have to look at the conditions and the size of the ground. I have played with Russell and Jason for a long time. Fantastic players, big hitters and world beaters. Thankfully it went my way.
Ideally we were not looking to take the game that deep. We wanted to win it with two overs to spare or so. I tried to take the single in that bump ball. We have got two games now. Next games is a big one. We are not looking too far ahead. We want to adopt to the conditions and if we can bring our A game, we can win it."
Player of the Match: Adil Rashid
Sikandar Raza (Sharjah Warriorz Captain): "In the end they got a lot more runs. But if someone told me at the start to chase 140, we would have taken that. We will take the win. Adil has been world class for the team. He can bowl at the shorter end, with the wind, against the wind. He can bowl anywhere. The last over from him proved far too crucial.
When Adil came out to bat I knew he would score the winning run because he deserved it. He bowled well, he fielded well, he was everywhere. But I think myself should have finished the game, it is something I have to work on."
Jason Holder (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders Captain):"Definitely not. It was not enough even if it went to the last ball. Credit goes to our bowlers. It took a hell of an effort to stretch a game deep. Our discipline in the fielding was also really good.
We needed a few things to go in our favour obviously. One more wicket in the powerplay may have worked. That spell in tandem from Sunil and Olly worked well for us. Had we squeezed a couple of overs like that, the momentum would have swung in our favour. Again while defending such low scores, you need a few things to go your way which didn't.
Ya still something to play for. We have let ourselves down in this campaign. We performed way short of our potential. We talk about individuals first and then as a team. I think this is utterly disappointing to not go to the next stage of the competition. We have one game left and there's something to play for."
Time for the post-match presentations.
11:36 PM IST, 10:06 PM Local Time: A low scoring thriller in Abu Dhabi as the Sharjah Warriorz win it on the final ball by 4 wickets. A magnificent performance with the new ball bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Wasim Akram, Adil Rashid's leg spinning masterclass then some smart batting by the middle order helps the Warriorz stay alive in the tournament.
Winning the toss ADKR skipper Jason Holder surprised everyone with the decision to bat first. ADKR lost 4 wickets in the powerplay and had to push Unmukt Chand as impact sub instead of Piyush Chawla, losing the services of a spinner in the defence.
44 from Sherfane Rutherford, 2 sixes each from Holder and Andre Russell helped ADKR post 134/9. Holder then continued his allround display with an early wicket along with Ajay Kumar who struck from the other and sending the Sharjah openers back in the shed for 9 in the 3rd over.
Tom Abell (13 off 13) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (30 off 35) added 25 runs for the 3rd wicket to steady the ship. It seemed to get sailing when skipper Sikandar Raza joined TKC at the crease to add 21 for the 5th wicket scoring 28 off 25 balls.
Sunil Narine however put the squeeze in the middle overs with a terrific spell picking up a wicket for just 14 runs in his 4 overs. ADKR certainly missed the presence of another spinner. With 23 needed in the final 3 overs, Ajay was hit for a maximum and taken for 4 more runs before he removed Raza off the final delivery keeping the contest alive.
Holder than bowled a fantastic penultimate over conceding just a single and removing Dwaine Pretorius for a duck to keep the equation to 12 off the final over. Andre Russell conceded a boundary off the first ball, overstepped on the third, bowled a wide later and with just 1 needed off the final ball, allowed Rashid to open the bat face and sneak the winning run in the off side.
Holder (2/25), Narine (1/14) and Olly Stone (1/24) were fantastic with the ball for Knight Riders but it was Adil Rashid's 3/18 in the first innings where he also bowled the final over, which helped Warriorz to restrict the opposition.
Knight Riders having lost 4 early wickets took the harsh call to bring in Chand who scored 24 in 22 balls but then couldn't acquire the services of Chawla. Liam Livingstone was another option but he left the field early in the defence for a bit. A probable injury may be the reason he was kept out of the attack.