Image Credit- ILT20
The MI of Nicholas Pooran Emirates defeated Sam
Billings’ Dubai Capitals by 45 runs in the championship match to win the second
ILT20 trophy.
Muhammad Waseem and Kusal Perera gave Emirates a flying start after the
Capitals decided to bowl, hammering 72 in the first six overs. Pooran’s
unbeaten 57 off 27 balls towards the finish guided Emirates to 208 for 3, the
best total of the season, even though the next six overs yielded just 31 runs.
The Capitals responded by continuing to lose wickets on a consistent basis.
Billings and Sikandar Raza had their highest partnership of 38 runs for the
fourth wicket. In the field, both teams fell short, with Emirates missing a
total of six catches. However, they had enough lead time to not let those
reprieves hurt them.
Billings had earlier defied common sense by scoring
runs in a crucial game, but Waseem and Perera quickly caused him to change his
mind. Emirates was knocked beyond 50 by the two in just 3.3 overs. Waseem
scored forty-three points by himself by the end of the powerplay.
But the Capitals were able to slow down the pace of scoring. Perera lost his
wicket to Raza in an attempt to break loose. Fletcher had been on 28 off 27 at
one point, and had appeared completely lost against Zahir and Raza. In the
sixteenth over, he finally quickened his tempo, hitting Scott Kuggeleijn for
two sixes and a four to reach his fifty off just 35 balls.
Fletcher left in the following over, but then Pooran stepped up and took the
Emirates past 200. Along the way, he belted two fours and six sixes.
Emirates took a further lead when Akeal Hosein
dismissed Leus du Plooy for a two-ball duck. As a Super Sub, Tom Banton
delivered some powerful smashes, but legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth stumped
him for a twenty-ball thirty-five.
Although Jason Holder scored three runs in five balls, the Capitals could not
get the necessary number of boundaries. With four wickets in hand and only five
conceded in the 17th over thanks to Trent Boult’s removal of Rovman Powell, the
Capitals needed to score 75 runs from 18 balls. Even though the Capitals’
innings lasted all 20 overs, the game ended far sooner.