Captain Polly's stunning 38-ball 86 falls just short of getting us past the finish line

Skipper Kieron Pollard’s belligerent 37-ball 86 went in vain as the MI Emirates went down to Dubai Capitals by 16 runs for their first defeat of the ILT20 in a high-scoring affair at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, here on Sunday.

Chasing a mammoth 223, MI Emirates, the experienced pair of Kieron Pollard and Andre Fletcher (35 off 34 balls) took charge of the proceedings to raise the hopes of the side with a valuable 118-run third wicket stand, and towards the end, Najibullah Zadran (30 off 9 balls) lit up the stadium with late order fireworks to reduce the margin.

“Really thought 222 was always going to be a challenging total. While saying that it was always going to be tough, losing three wickets in the powerplay and scoring 75 in the 10 overs was tough. Pollard, Najibullah played a wonderful innings. It was our first loss, as a group we are disappointed with the way we bowled and fielded. 

We don’t want to use any excuses, we want to play with the right attitude and right energy. It’s cricket, at the end of the day, we are humans, we made mistakes and we paid the price for it. They played well, today was their day, we need to give them the credit.” Pooran said at the post-match presser.

MI Emirates could not quite find the momentum they were expecting during the chase and got off to a sluggish start with 25 runs from the first four before losing their top three batters — Muhammad Waseem (10), Will Smeed (13) and Nicholas Pooran (0) — in a span of just a single run. 

Joining hands at 26/3, Andre Fletcher put the anchor on at one end, while Pollard went on the offensive with a quality filled half century off 27 balls. Fletcher stayed till the end and witnessed Zadran’s fireworks against Chamika Karunaratne from the other end, before the side fell 16 runs short of the total. Samit Patel, who replaced Dwayne Bravo, in the only change for MIE, also chipped in with a 6-ball 18.

“Pollard has a reputation to win games like this, today was no different. The belief is there from last night, doesn’t matter who’s batting. Last night it was Najibullah’s night, today Pollard played a great innings. It’s not an individual success, it’s team success,” Pooran insisted.

Earlier, Dubai Capitals skipper Rovman Powell smashed a 41-ball 97, and opener Joe Root getting a second successive half century, to help the team post 222/3, the highest total of the tournament, so far, after being asked to bat.

The Capitals’ innings got the right platform to flourish from the blistering 78-run start from Root and fellow Robin Uthappa until Fazalhaq Farooqi used his bag of tricks to dismiss the Indian right-hander for a 23-ball 26. 

Coming in at No.3, Powell dispatched leg-spinner Imran Tahir for two sixes before his opposite number Kieron Pollard almost got him against the run of play. The Jamaican right-hander capitalised on the reprieve by racing to a fifty off 22 balls.

Meanwhile, Root, who began his knock by taking on Patel for two sixes and a four off consecutive balls, raced to a 34-ball half century, as his second-wicket partnership with Powell began to build.

Zahoor Khan got the wicket of Root to end of the 119-run second wicket stand, but some late hitting from Powell took the Dubai Capitals to 222/3.