Holder’s three wickets for 36 runs, included the scalp of fellow West Indians Dwayne Bravo (two) and Akeal Hosein (seven), as well as Will Smeed (five), as Pooran’s MI Emirates, were restricted to 159-9, before being put to the sword by Dubai Capitals, who easily got to 160-3 with four overs to spare.
Scores: MI Emirates 159-9 (20 overs); Dubai Capitals 160-3 (16 overs)
Zimbabwe’s spinner Sikandar Raza also bagged three wickets for 21 runs from his four overs for the Capitals and was later named Man-of-the-Match, as his combination with Holder offered the opponents very little room to play their shots.
In fact, apart from opener Muhammad Waseem’s 26-ball 51 which included four sixes and two fours, only Andre Fletcher (30), Pooran (21) and Australian Tim David (27), got into double figures for MI Emirates, who were sent to bat by Dubai Capitals captain David Warner.
Fletcher had two sixes and three fours in his 18-ball knock, while Pooran had a solitary six and four in his 23-ball innings.
The Capitals run chase started shakily, as they lost Warner (one) with 15 runs on the board.
However, Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz (81) and 21-year-old Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk (54), steadied the innings with a 114-run second-wicket stand that erased whatever hopes MI Emirates had of securing victory.
Gurbaz slammed four sixes and eight fours in his 39-ball knock, while Fraser-McGurk, who was brought in for Paul Van Meekeren, had four sixes and four fours in his innings which used a mere 25 balls.
After both fell, Englishman Sam Billings (13 not out), and West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell (seven not out), saw the Capitals to victory.
New Zealand’s left-arm seamer Trent Boult led the Emirates bowling with two for 23 from four overs.
Leus du Plooy, with an unbeaten 40-ball 63, Tom Banton (38) and Tom Abell, unbeaten on 20, saw Dubai Capitals to victory at 139-1 with 25 balls to spare, after Gulf Giants, the team of West Indians Shimron Hetmyer and Carlos Brathwaite, were restricted to 138-6 from their allotment. Captain James Vince led the Giants from the front with a 53-ball 58, including four fours and two sixes, but lacked the necessary support, as Usman Khan (21) and Chris Jordan (30), were the next best scorers.
Holder, who was among five Capitals bowlers with a wicket apiece, ended with one for seven in two overs. By virtue of their win, Dubai Capitals booked a date with Nicholas Pooran's MI Emirates to decide the champions of this second edition of the tournament.
Scores: Gulf Giants 138-6 (20 overs); Dubai Capitals 139-1 (15.5 overs)
After suffering a 45-run defeat to MI Emirates in Qualifier 1, Gulf Giants would have hoped for better fortunes on this occasion, but those hopes were dashed as they lost Khan, Chris Lynn (zero), Jordan Cox (two) and Jamie Smith (zero), with just 40 runs on the board.
Hetmyer (eight), also had a brief stay in the middle, but despite the setback, Vince pushed on with some expansive shots that added some respectability to the innings before he eventually holed out to Powell off Olly Stone with the score at 117-6.
Jordan then smashed two sixes and a solitary four in his 29-ball knock, while Jamie Overton added 12 runs to the total in a six-ball cameo.
With just 139 to get, Plooy and Banton went on the charge in a 98-run opening stand, which all but signalled the writing on the wall for Gulf Giants. Banton had four boundaries in his run-a-ball 38, before he fell to Liam Dawson.
Abell joined Plooy, and the two posted an unbeaten 41-run stand for the second wicket to push the Capitals across the line. Plooy had five fours and three sixes in his knock, while Abell had two boundaries and a solitary six.
Powell and Holder will rub shoulders with fellow West Indians, Pooran, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Akeal Hosein, in the showpiece contest on Saturday.
They join the likes of Andre Fletcher, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Rovman Powell, Akeal Hosein, Raymon Reifer, Sherfane Rutherford, Ravi Rampaul, Kennar Lewis and Dominic Drakes as West Indians participating in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
Other big names participating include England's Moeen Ali and Alex Hales as well as Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
The ILT20 is set to begin in January next year in the UAE and is competing with South Africa's T20 League for players. There will be six franchises consisting of 18 players each.
The 2023 edition of the ILT20 will have 34 matches. All the teams will play each other twice, before four playoffs, including the final, spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
