Clinical Gemini cruise to MCL final in run fest

Better late than never, there was finally a horde of spectators who made the effort to turn up to the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the first semifinal of the Masters Champions League just as the tournament entered its final stages. It was little surprise that the Gemini Arabians, who have been the most consistent team from the onset, having gone into the final four unbeaten, cruised past the Sagittarius Strikers on Thursday (February 11) to seal their spot in the final by a ten-run victory in a run fest.

Daniel Vettori, Mutthiah Muralitharan, Saqlain Mushtaq and Brad Hodge, who had missed their teams' final encounters due to various reasons, returned as full-strength squads were available for the all-important clash.

Virender Sehwag could have been dismissed off the first ball after mistiming a pull towards mid-on that fell short, but that would've only denied the sea of red of Gemini's supporters of some much anticipated action given the form that the captain has displayed throughout the tournament.

Gemini played the another game on repeat mode as Kumar Sangakkara and Sehwag played some glorious shots all over the park while putting on 118 runs together at a little under nine runs an over. Into six overs, Sagittarius would've been glad to have kept Gemini quiet to 40 for 1 after the powerplay. Shane Bond, who got some movement in his opening overm, bowled four overs on the trot to finish without a wicket.

What let Sagittarius down was their dismal fielding; Krishmar Santokie missed running Sehwag out when he was on 42 off 29 balls and Sangakkara was handed a reprieve after Gavin Hamilton dropped him off Imran Farhat on 43. Those were easy chances, which if taken, would have had Gemini restricted to a moderate total.

Sangakkara was remarkable through the covers while Sehwag had most of his runs through backward point and behind the square of both sides while rotating the strike efficiently. Sangakkara got to yet another fifty in the tournament before he was caught out by Jonathan Trott as he waltzed down the track for 63 off 43 balls.

Sehwag reached his fifty with a boundary off 34 balls and then raced to his next 25 runs in just seven balls before Tino Best produced the best over of the innings.

Best was welcomed to his final over with a six by Brad Hodge, who then looked at slogging another one over extra cover, but handed an easy one to Santokie at long-on. Off the next ball, Sehwag pulled one straight to fine-leg giving Trott his second catch for the night and Best, his second wicket in the tournament, having him on a hat-trick. Sehwag departed for a brilliant 83 off 50 - an innings that consisted of 12 fours and two sixes.

He nearly had three in three, but couldn't get to the mistimed pull off Justin Kemp on time despite his best efforts. However, off the last ball of his spell, he had Jacques Rudolph caught out by Khurram Khan at deep backward point to finish with returns of 3 for 24.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan struck some mighty blows in the last over to take Gemini to 191 for 5, which proved to be enough in the end.

Adam Gilchrist started typically with two beautiful pulls through midwicket, but didn't last beyond the second over as missed the line and had his offstump knocked off by Graham Onions. Mahela Jayawardene anchored the chase in fine fashion, unperturbed by the falling wickets at the other end, and scored another half-century to keep Sagittarius in the game.

If the batsmen produced a repeat telecast as seen in the tournament before, the bowlers weren't far behind as Muralitharan and Mushtaq (2 for 21) dried up the runs in tandem with Kyle Mills. Muralitharan was at his wily best striking in his opening over to get Trott. He then had Yasir Hameed stumped for 16 before finishing with figures of 2 for 29.

Jayawardene couldn't accelerate after reaching his fifty while time was running out, while Phil Mustard went after Rudolph to belt a few over the boundary line. Jayawardene perished in the 17th over holing out to Rudolph off Onions for 65 off 52, quashing all hopes of a win for Sagittarius. He ended his tournament with 299 runs in six innings at an average of 49.83. Nobody would have given Sagittarius a chance, but Naved-ul-Hasan's 18th over that yielded 23 runs had them in the game with 33 to get off the last two overs with Mustard, who was dealing in sixes, single-handedly keeping his team in the hunt.

Onions picked up Arafat in the penultimate over and finished with 3 for 37, leaving 21 required off the last over with Rana-ul-Naved to bowl. With singles off the first two balls, Gemini would have fancied their chances to cross the line successfully, and so they did with Sagittarius finishing on 181 for 6 with Mustard being unbeaten on 48 off just 18.

Brief scores: Gemini Arabians 191/5 in 20 overs (Virender Sehwag 83, Kumar Sangakkara 62; Tino Best 3-24) beat Sagittarius Strikers 181/6 in 20 overs (Mahela Jayawardene 65, Phil Mustard 48; Mutthiah Muralitharan 2-29) by 10 runs.