Scintillating half-centuries from Nicholas Pooran and Andre Fletcher propelled MI Emirates to an eight-wicket victory over Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 eliminator at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night.
MI Emirates will now face Gulf Giants in Qualifier 2 on Friday at the Dubai International Stadium.
Despite Dubai Capitals' challenging 151 for 5 in 20 overs, MI Emirates raced to the target in 16.4 overs thanks to Pooran's unbeaten 66 off 36 balls with three boundaries and five sixes and Andre Fletcher's 68 off 45 balls with four boundaries and four sixes. They put on an unbeaten 104-run third-wicket partnership off just 61 balls.
Dubai Capitals scored 151 thanks to George Munsey's 51 off 43 balls, which included six boundaries and a six. Pooran and Fletcher's aggressive batting ended Dubai Capitals' hopes and helped them win the match with 20 balls to spare.
MI Emirates had previously won the toss and elected to bowl. Opening bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi struggled to maintain control, giving up 11 runs in the first over.
Munsey of the Dubai Capitals hit the first boundary of the game with a square drive. Opener Robin Uthappa also got a boundary by playing Trent Boult wide of first slip, but he was out on the final ball of that over. Boult forced Uthappa to play into Pooran's hands at first slip for a 6. Farooqi bowled a tight third over, allowing only three runs.
Boult bowled brilliantly, allowing only two runs in his fourth over, and the DC Capitals could only muster 28 runs by the end of the powerplay. UAE medium pacer Zahoor Khan also bowled tightly, allowing only ten runs in two overs.
Rashid Khan, who joined the team for this match, bowled the ninth over, yielding six runs. Munsey and Sikandar Raza had taken the score to 59 by the halfway point, and by the 11th over, they had completed their 50-run partnership.
Munsey punished Farooqi with a boundary off the first ball of the 12th over and followed that up with a six to deep forward square. He got a boundary to mid-wicket off the third delivery and another to cover two balls later. That over resulted in 21 runs.
Rashid Khan was brought back for the 13th over, and Munsey hit a boundary off his third delivery to reach his half-century in 42 balls. Munsey was caught leg before by Khan's fourth ball for 51. For the second wicket, Munsey and Raza had put on 78 runs in 64 balls. Rovman Powell joined Raza and helped the Dubai Capitals score 100 runs in 14.4 overs.
Raza scooped Zahoor Khan for a boundary off the first ball of the 16th over, and Powell hit the third ball for a straight six. Raza hit another boundary with the final ball of that over. When the prospect of a large total began to brighten, wickets began to fall.
In the 17th over, Boult forced Raza to pull into Bravo's hands for 38. In the 18th over, Yusuf Pathan lasted only five balls and scored four runs before lifting Rashid Khan to Bravo at mid-off. In the 19th over, Bravo clean bowled Powell with a full toss for 30 runs. Dubai Capitals reached 150 in the final over.
In response, MI Emirates began their chase by losing their consistent opener Muhammad Waseem to the third ball of the first over when he drove into Reece Topley's hands at mid-off for 2.
Lorcan Tucker and opener Andre Fletcher kept the scoreboard moving despite the setback. The powerplay resulted in 41 runs. Dasun Shanaka made the breakthrough in the seventh over, catching Tucker leg before for ten runs.
Nicholas Pooran started off aggressively, hitting Shanaka for two consecutive sixes. MI Emirates had strengthened their position by the halfway point, with a score of 81 for 2 and 71 runs required.
Pooran and Fletcher hit sixes off Raza's 12th over to push the total past 100 runs. Fletcher reached his half-century in 33 balls and Pooran in 25 balls. When Pooran hit a six and a boundary off successive balls in the 13th over, and Ravi Bopara hit a six each in the next over, MI Emirates raced to their big win.
"Trent Boult and Rashid Khan delivered an outstanding performance today. They are top-tier bowlers. We're taking each game one at a time. Tomorrow is a big game. We'll treat it like any other game and do our best "MI Emirates bowling coach Vinay Kumar said.
Meanwhile, Dubai Capitals' captain Yusuf Pathan said, "We should have shown more intent with the bat today. We didn't play with the right intent in the first six overs. I had a great experience in the ILT20 and I got to watch a lot of good cricket as well. It was good to watch the UAE players in the tournament as well."
Brief scores: Dubai Capitals 151 for 5 in 20 overs (George Munsey 51, Sikandar Raza 38, Rovman Powell 30, Trent Boult 2 for 19, Rashid Khan 2 for 20) lost to MI Emirates 152 for 2 in 16.4 overs (Andre Fletcher 68 not out, Nicholas Pooran 66 not out, Jake Ball 1/23) by 8 wickets.