Abu Dhabi T10: Russell, Odean Smith star as Deccan Gladiators beat Delhi Bulls to reach final

Abu Dhabi [UAE], December 3 (ANI): Riding on Andre Russell’s brilliant all-round show, Deccan Gladiators progressed to the final of Abu Dhabi T10 League after clinching the first qualifier against Delhi Bulls on Friday.
The Gladiators’ batting clicked once again and overcame a minor stutter in the middle overs to pose an imposing 139. Delhi Bulls’ batting unit started strongly but the chase lost steam after the departure of Eoin Morgan in the seventh over.
The loss means that the Delhi Bulls would need to play against the winning side of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2 later in the day.
Gurbaz began the Bulls’ chase with the same confidence that he has exhibited throughout the season, lofting Wahab Riaz over his head for a six in the first over.
Hemraj continued the good work in the next over, finding the boundary on multiple occasions to fetch 22 runs off Sultan Ahmed’s bowling.
However, the left-hander departed soon, failing to pick Smith’s slower ball. In the company of Sherfane Rutherford, Gurbaz took the team to 65 at the halfway mark of the innings but fell to Hasaranga on the first delivery of the sixth over.
Eoin Morgan raised hopes of the Delhi fans with a flurry of sixes but Andre Russell delivered the knockout punch when he had Morgan caught at deep point.
With 47 to get off the final three overs and their main batsmen back in the hut, the result became a foregone conclusion. The Bulls eventually finished with 122 for the loss of five wickets to lose the contest by 17 runs.
Earlier, the Gladiators lost the toss and were put in to bat by Dwayne Bravo. Russell and Tom Kohler-Cadmore resumed from where they had left in the last match, stitching together a 58-run-partnership from just 23 balls to give the team a solid start.
In the middle overs after the side lost two quick wickets, Odean Smith and David Wiese brought the innings back on track and took the total beyond 100 on the first ball of the penultimate over.
Odean Smith then went on to unleash a hat-trick of sixes against Fazalhaq Farooqi’s bowling who gave away 27 runs in the over.
Wiese hit Nyeem Young for a four and a six in the final over to ensure that the Gladiators ended up putting up a big score despite the setback faced in the middle overs. The duo added 62 runs from 24 deliveries as Deccan Gladiators finished at 139/4 in 10 overs.
Brief scores: Deccan Gladiators 139/4 (Andre Russell 39, David Wiese 31; Dominic Drakes 3-15) vs Delhi Bulls 122/5 (Eoin Morgan 27, Chandrapaul Hemraj 24; Andre Russell 2-27) (ANI)