Abu Dhabi T10: Playoffs Review: Deccan Gladiators, Delhi Bulls book title clash

After two weeks of thrilling action, we finally have our two finalists. Deccan Gladiators and Delhi Bulls clashed in the first qualifier where the former emerged victorious to book a berth in the final. On the back of decent knocks by Tom Kohler-Cadmore (23 off 16), Andre Russell (39 off 14) and David Weise (31 off 15), Gladiators posted a solid 139-4.

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Bulls needed a fiery start in a stiff chase. However, Rahmanullah Gurbaz failed to get going and consumed 14 balls for 19. After this slow start, Bulls were always behind the run rate and could only manage 122-5 in their quota of overs to lose the game by 17 runs.

In the second game, which was the Eliminator, Abu Dhabi defeated Bangla Tigers to give themself another shot at the final. Having restricted Tigers to a mere 101, Abu Dhabi cruised to a win by 7 wickets. Hazratullah Zazai played a good hand of 66 off 37 balls for the Tigers to push them above 100. However, it was never going to be sufficient against the strong Abu Dhabi team. A half-century by Paul Stirling and 24 off 12 balls by Phil Salt was enough for them to win the match.

In the final game, which was qualifier 2, Delhi Bulls defeated Abu Dhabi by 49 runs to reach the finals. Bulls had set a target of 109 runs to win, which wasn't a big one, especially against Abu Dhabi. However, the Bulls bowlers came roaring and bundled out Abu Dhabi for 60 runs. Dominic Drakes was on fire in the match and picked 4 wickets for 13 runs, while Fazalhaq Farooqui took 3 wickets for 5 runs.