Player of the match Carlos Brathwaite took three wickets and effected a runout while Shimron Hetmyer scored a quick-fire unbeaten 25 to help lead Gulf Giants to a seven-wicket victory over Desert Vipers and the 2023 ILT20 final in Dubai on Sunday.
The heroic Barbadian, whose four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes won the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup for the West Indies, took 3-19 and ran out opener Rohan Mustafa for just six to restrict Desert Vipers to 146-8 from their 20 overs.
He removed the dangerous Alex Hales for one, took the catch to dismiss Adam Lyth for 13, dismissed Sam Billings for 31, breaking the 72-run fifth wicket partnership with Wanindu Hasaranga, whose 55 from 27 balls propped up Desert Vipers, before returning to take the wicket of Tom Curran in the 19th over.
Qias Ahmad supported Brathwaite with the wickets of Hasaranga and Luke Wood for three to finish with figures of 2-29. Chris Jordan caught and bowled the dangerous Colin Munro for just six.
Chasing 147 for victory, Gulf Giants’s Chris Lyn scored an unbeaten 72 from 50 balls and 30 from Gerhard Erasmus before Hetmyer arrived with the final dagger, smashing 25 not out from 13 balls with five fours to propel Gulf Giants to the title with eight balls to spare.