Dubai Capitals - owned by the GMR Group - suffered a 12-run loss at the hands of Desert Vipers in match 20 of ILT20 2023 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, January 28.

Dubai Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Capitals handed Aussie spin star Adam Zampa the first start of his ILT20 adventure while Robin Uthappa and Chirag Suri replaced Dan Lawrence and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. The Vipers, meanwhile, fielded an unchanged playing XI from the seven-wicket victory against MI Emirates.

Jake Ball and Akif Raja opened proceedings in style, grabbing the wickets of Rohan Mustafa (1) and the dangerous Alex Hales (12) within the initial three overs. But the third-wicket partnership between Colin Munro and Sam Billings revived the Desert Vipers' batting past 80 before the first strategic timeout.

Adam Zampa was on song with the ball, as he claimed three important scalps of Billings (25), Wanindu Hasaranga (9) and Munro (40) and conceded just 16 runs in his four overs. Talk about the immediate impact in his debut game.

Jake Ball (2/43) and Fred Klaassen (2/35) were the other top bowlers for the Capitals as they restricted the Vipers to 149/9 in 20 overs.

Dubai Capitals' run chase began with a few hiccups, as they hit 36/2 in the mandatory powerplay overs. While Robin Uthappa was dismissed out for one run by Gus Atkinson, Hazratullah Zazai saw his innings cut short by West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell.

Dasun Shanaka (24) and Sikandar Raza (15)'s cameos reignited the Capitals' batting. It added impetus to the Yusuf Pathan-Rovman Powell partnership that propelled the team to chase 17 runs in the final over.

Desert Vipers handed Tom Curran the ball to bowl the final over and the Englishman would concede just four runs, thus winning the game for the visitors.

Rohan Mustafa (2/27) was the standout bowler for the Vipers, but the likes of Sheldon Cottrell (1/20) and Gus Atkinson (1/16) also bowled match-defining spells.