Skipper Bravo leads from the front as marauding Bulls storm into Abu Dhabi T10 final

A match-winning bowling feat led by Delhi Bulls captain Dwayne Bravo, who along with Waqas Maqsood and Nyeem Young, destroyed a strong Northern Warriors batting to restrict them to 97 for 7 and take their team into the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Bravo, who had captained Maratha Arabians to their title triumph in the last edition, took the prize wickets of Warriors skipper Nicholas Pooran and aggressive Lendl Simmons for figures of two for 14. He was backed by Maqsood with two for 24 and Nyeem Young with two for 22.

Chasing the moderate 98-run target set by the Warriors, Bulls’ Sherfane Rutherford hit a breezy 29 off 10 balls and Tom Abell struck a 11-ball unbeaten 23 to ensure Bulls won by five wickets with eight balls to spare in the first qualifier.

The Warrior’s UAE medium pacer Junaid Siddique took four wickets for 20 runs but Tom Abell and Ravi Bopara (15n.o) held on to steer their team safely well past the winning target.

Earlier, Delhi Bulls picked an early wicket after opting to bowl first.

Waqas Maqsood with the second ball of the first over bowled Brandon King for 2. Pooran began in his usual aggressive style, hitting the first three balls he faced from Maqsood for fours.

Waseem Muhammad hit a boundary through covers off Fidel Edwards in the second over while Pooran hit the fifth and six balls of that over for sixes.

Maqsood struck again with the first ball of the second over by forcing Waseem to edge to keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 5. Pooran hit Maqsood over square leg for another six. Off the last ball of that over, Rovman Powell got run out for 1. Powell, who had remained unbeaten six consecutive times thus got out for the first time.

Bravo then scalped the prize wicket of Pooran, having him caught by Abell for 32 from just 12 balls. Aftyer two tight 4th and 5th overs — bowled by Bravo and Shiraz Ahmed, that leaked just six and three runs respectively — at the half way mark, Warriors were 51 for 4.

Lendl Simmons, who hit 19 and Wayne Parnell’s sedate 13 saw Warriors post 97 runs off their allotted 10 overs.

Chasing the 98-run target, aggressive opening bat Gurbaz hit Wahab Riaz’s second ball of the first over for a six and followed it up with a four off the last ball. In the second over, Lewis hit Junaid Siddique’s first ball for a boundary.

He also hit the second delivery for a six. Siddique struck back, having Lewis caught at deep mid-wicket for 10 and also had Gurbaz caught at the same field position for 14. Rutherford began by lifting Parnell for a six over long-on and another off the third ball. He went on to hit Parnell for two consecutive fours off the last two balls to take 23 runs off that over.

The ball after Rutherford upper cut Siddique over backward point for a six, he perished, trapped leg before for 29. Siddique also had Mohammad Nabi leg before with the last ball of the fourth over. Rayad Emrit gave aways just three runs and at the half way mark, Bulls were 60 for 4 needing another 38 runs from the last five overs.

Bravo got out hitting Lakshan straight to Allen at mid-wicket for 5.

Abell, who joined Bopara, first hit Parnell for a six to mid-wicket, following it up with two consecutive fours to bring Bulls close to the target. Bopara finished off in style by hitting Allen for a six over long-off to put his team into the final.

Warriors were left to battle it out with Team Abu Dhabi for a place in the final after the latter won the next tie, the Eliminator 1 when they beat Qalandars by 6 wickets. Batting first, Qalandars put up 83 for 7 in their 10 overs. Team Abu Dhabi easily went past the 84-run target when they scored 88 for the loss of just 4 wickets in 8.4 overs.