One of the de-merits of a short tournament like Abu Dhabi T20 is that there is no time to make or plan comebacks after losing one of your two group matches. As it turned out, Hobart Hurricanes are already out of the running for the finals after just playing one game.
The victors, Lahore Qalandars, qualified for the final after remaining unbeaten in both their group fixtures. Hobart Hurricanes will now play a dead-rubber against Yorkshire Vikings, which should still provide much excitement for a franchise level match between clubs from Australia and England.
The other group however, is still very much alive after Multiply Titans from South Africa opened their campaign with a win against Afghanistan’s Boost Defenders. Titans will now face Auckland Aces from New Zealand in the final group fixture, with all three teams still in with a chance to qualify for the final. For Boost, they’ll need Auckland to win against Titans to have any chances to sneak through. Same goes for Auckland, who will not only need a win but also with a healthy margin to boost their net run-rate to top the group.
Brief Scores:
Multiply Titans 218/3 in 20 overs (Toni de Zorzi 106 n.o, Chris Morris 46 n.o, Rivaldo Moonsamy 32, Jeevan Mendis 1/38, Kyle Abbott 1/49) beat Boost Defenders 168/8 in 20 overs (Colin Ingram 51, Ryan Higgins 45, Jeevan Mendis 18, Shaun von Berg 3/23, Tshepo Moreki 2/20, Edward Hawken 2/37, Chris Morris 1/32) by 50 runs
Lahore Qalandars 181/6 in 20 overs (Mohammad Faizan 58, Agha Salman 37 n.o, Sohail Akhtar 37, Jordan Clark 2/33, Nathan Ellis 1/28, Mac Wright 1/28) beat Hobart Hurricanes 146/8 in 20 overs (Charlie Wakim 43, Jordan Clark 19, Ben Duckett 18, Farzan Raza 4/24, Haris Rauf 1/24, Shaheen Afridi 1/31) by 35 runs
