The Desert Vipers beat the Gulf Giants to reach the DP World ILT20 final

In the brutal world of T20 franchise cricket, finishing top of the table after the round robin stage does not guarantee a place in the final.

The Gulf Giants finished top but had to play second-placed team, Desert Vipers, in the first qualifier, the winner of which would go straight through to the final.

In their 10 matches, the Gulf Giants had lost only one match, won seven and had two abandoned by rain. The Desert Vipers won seven of their 10 games and lost three, two of which were to the Gulf Giants, both at Dubai. The portents seemed to be with the Giants, who won the toss and chose to bowl.

Rohan Mustafa adopted his normal aggressive approach, striking Sanchit Sharma for two towering sixes through mid-wicket and behind square leg. Another six for Mustafa took the score to 28 after three overs, the high scoring Hales being very quiet by comparison.

Mustafa’s early charge was halted by the first ball of David Wiese’s first over which was drilled straight to mid-on to be expertly caught low down by Chris Jordan. Two more wickets fell quickly. Hales, trying to give himself space to force Brathwaite through the offside, was undone by a ball which moved in to hit the top of leg stump. Munro attempted to take on Jordan but got an edge so thick that the ball spiraled to a great height before the wicketkeeper safely caught it. At 36 for three after six overs, the Vipers were in trouble.

Sam Billings and Wanindu Hasaranga set out to rebuild the innings, before resuming attacking intent, taking the score to 93 for four in the 12th over when Hasaranga was out. The Vipers’ scoring rate was not high enough and, when Sherfane Rutherford, in taking a quick single, pulled up in obvious distress with what looked to be a pulled