ABU DHABI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a blistering 56-run knock, followed by Akeal Hosein’s five-fer including a hat-trick to steer New York Strikers to the final of Abu Dhabi T10 League with a dominant 41-run victory over Morrisville Samp Army in the Qualifier 1 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Morrisville Samp Army will now face the winner of the Eliminator between Deccan Gladiators and Bangla Tigers in the Qualifier 2 of the Abu Dhabi T10 League tonight.
Samp Army after winning the toss opted to bowl first and gained an early advantage with Karim Janat dismissing Muhammad Waseem in the second over.
However, New York Strikers opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz attacked the bowlers from his end single-handedly before departing in the eighth over with 91 runs on board.
Gurbaz played a quick-fire knock of 56 runs from 28 balls featuring four boundaries and six sixes.
Asif Ali then played an unbeaten cameo of 17 runs from seven balls to see the Strikers finish with 121-5 in their ten overs.
Qais Ahmad led the bowling attack with two wickets, while Jason Holder, Janat and Muhammad Irfan picked one wicket each.
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Morrisville Samp Army had a horrible start to their chase as Akeal Hosein claimed a hat-trick in the first over to leave them struggling.
Hosein then dismissed Faf du Plessis and Najibullah Zadran in the next over, claiming impressive bowling figures of 5-6.
Jason Holder showed some resistance with an 11-ball 22, featuring one boundary and two sixes before Muhammad Jawadullah bowled him, leaving Samp Army reeling at 39-8.
With 83 required off 20 balls, Qais Ahmed played an unbeaten cameo of 31 runs from 13 balls with the help of two boundaries and two sixes.
However, he failed to help his team achieve the mammoth target as they managed to score 80-9 in their ten overs.
Other than Hosein’s five-fer, Muhammad Jawadullah picked two wickets, while Sunil Narine and Chamika Karunaratne picked one wicket each for the Strikers.