Easily the best team in the league phase, MI Emirates were the better team on the night with their globe-trotting Twenty20 stars making the difference in Qualifier 1 of the ILT20 at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.
If there were any doubts about their ability to defend 164 against the Gulf Giants, those were put to bed in the first ball of the chase when Akeal Hosein, the West Indies left-arm spinner, bowled James Vince with a beauty.
The MI Emirates never took the foot off the gas as their bowlers bowled a nagging line and their fielders grabbed their chances to restrict the Giants to 118 all out.
The emphatic 45-run win sent MI into Saturday’s final where they will fancy their chances to lift the coveted trophy.
It’s not the end of the road for the Gulf Giants, though. The defending champions will take on Dubai Capitals in Qualifier 2 in Sharjah on Thursday for a place in the final.
Earlier, the MI Emirates never came close to producing their best cricket after being asked to bat first.
But they showed the same resilience with which Mumbai Indians, their Indian Premier League cousins, have snatched victories from the jaws of defeats time and again in the world’s richest T20 league.
What was also remarkable about the MI Emirates performance was that three of their top performers — Hosein (4-0-13-2), skipper Nicholas Pooran (36 off 28 balls) and Tim David (29 off 21 balls) — had only flown back from Perth on Wednesday after featuring in the Australia-West Indies T20 series.
The three of them played in all three of the T20 matches in Australia, the last of which was played on Tuesday.
And yet, around 24 hours later and after an 11-hour flight from Perth to Dubai, they overcame jet lag to produce performances that turned the game decisively in favour of the MI Emirates.
Pooran anchored the innings after the loss of early wickets to steady the MI ship.
Then Australian batter David, backed by West Indian stalwarts Dwayne Bravo (30 off 28 balls) and Kieron Pollard (27 not out off 14 balls) ensured the Emirates had a competitive total to defend.
Once Hosein struck in the first ball of the second innings, the writing was on the wall for the Giants.
If not for number nine Chris Jordan’s late cameo (15-ball 31), their total on the board would have been even more embarrassing.
“I mean we have to do what we have to do,” Husein, who was named man-of-the-match, said of their incredible performance after flying all the way from Perth.
“Just about trying to get accustomed as fast as possible and put in as much recovery as possible on your off days.”
All three of them played for the Emirates before leaving for the Australia-West Indies series.
“The last two games played here was maybe like 10 days ago, thought it would be a green surface…came today, the first ball spun so I said I am going to run with that today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Giants now quickly pick up the pieces for Thursday’s make-or-break game against the Dubai Capitals at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Brief scores:
MI Emirates beat Gulf Giants 45 runs.
MI Emirates 163/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 36, Dwayne Bravo 30, Tim David 29, Kieron Pollard 27 not out; Daniel Worrall 3/15, Blessing Muzarabani 2/34, Zuhaib Zubair 1/14)
Gulf Giants 118 all out in 18.2 overs (Chris Jordan 31; Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 3/22, Akeal Hosein 2/13, Waqar Salamkheil 2/27)