9.41pm I would bring you the presentations, but it seems my feed is now showing La Liga highlights... them's the breaks. Anyhow, the long and the short of it is that Emirates will take on Gulf Giants in Dubai tomorrow, for the right to meet Desert Vipers in Sunday's inaugural ILT20 final. And on today's evidence, they'll proceed with oodles of confidence. From Miller, Thilak and Ekanth, good night!
9.29pm Well, that was clinical. A middling target of 152 was made to look about 50 runs shy of competitive. MI cruise home in exactly 100 balls, thanks to a West Indian third-wicket partnership of 104 from 65 balls between Fletcher and Pooran. Nothing much for Capitals to take home there. George Munsey made a battling fifty but his tempo always seemed too slow for the occasion, and once the newcomer Rashid Khan had claimed 2 for 20 in his first appearance in the competition, the rest was clinical. Think he's got a future, that lad.
Ishan: "How come Rashid Khan is playing for MI Emirates? Wasnt he the captain of MI Team in SA20? Then how is he allowed to play here? I mean can include anybody in the middle of the tournament?" I guess the clue is in the "MI" part of that statement... you pays the bills, you makes the rules
Asahel: "So pleasing to see two WI players rotating the strike every now and then and picking the balls to smash (something we never doubt)"
END OF OVER:16 | 10 Runs | MIE: 149/2 (3 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 9.31, RRR: 0.75)
- Andre Fletcher66 (43b)
- Nicholas Pooran65 (34b)
- Hazrat Luqman2-0-17-0
- Akif Raja3-0-18-0
And now they've called a Strategic Time Out... give me strength. Not a lot to discuss on this occasion. But the sponsors will be delighted