Qais Ahmed and Salman Irshad fire Samp Army to victory against Bangla Tigers

Morrisville Samp Army and defending champions Deccan Gladiators stayed on course to reach the last four with comfortable victories over Bangla Tigers and Northern Warriors in the Abu Dhabi T10 on Tuesday.

Samp Army are on a roll. They produced another superb performance to outplay the Tigers to complete their fourth win from five games at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Electing to field first, Samp Army skittled out the Tigers for 82 with leg spinner Qais Ahmed (3-14), and the seamers Salman Irshad (3-12) and Karim Janat (2-4) doing the main damage.

Opener Andries Gous then led the chase with a 20-ball 42, and useful contributions from the captain Moeen Ali (12 not out) and Najibullah Zadran (13 not out) saw them home for the loss of four wickets with 10 balls to spare in the first of the three games on the night.

“We are playing well and getting better, like I said the last time,” Moeen said of his team’s fourth successive win after losing their opener to Northern Warriors on match day 1.

“I think the environment we are in is really good and that’s something important and really special. Taking wickets and bowling as many dot balls is the key to our success.

“We have taken a lot of wickets in every game, and when batting, to have as few dot balls as we can. We are just playing well and we have some good guys and everyone is contributing, and that makes a big difference.”

Before the match, Samp's veteran South Africa batter Faf du Plessis spoke about a possible return to international cricket.

With India due to tour South Africa for three T20Is in December and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup set to be played in June, there have been rumours that Du Plessis might make an international comeback.

On Tuesday, Du Plessis said: "I