Dubai: The die has been cast. Only the best four have managed to get to the semi-finals of the inaugural Masters Champions League (MCL) that gets under way at Dubai Sports City on Thursday.
The Gemini Arabians will take on the Sagittarius Strikers in the first semi-final on Thursday, while the Leo Lions will face the Virgo Super Kings on Friday.
Both matches start at 7.30pm with the final being held at the same venue on Saturday, from 7.30pm.
The Virender Sehwag-led Gemini Arabians are the team in form.
“They are the Real Madrid here,” Neil McKenzie of the Virgo Super Kings joked on the final day of the preliminary round matches in Sharjah on Sunday.
“All teams have been playing some good cricket. But the Arabians have been the best so far. They have all bases covered and they have quite a few batsmen with a lot of potential. They are going to be a tough team to beat,” he cautioned.
There is a reason for McKenzie’s concern. While the other five teams have struggled with indifferent form, the Arabians have been on a roll in this competition.
They have won all five of their matches, sealing their spot in the semi-finals even before their last round-robin match.
Sehwag is joined by Kumar Sangakkara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jacques Rudolp and Justin Kemp in the batting department, while the bowling is led by Muthiah Muralitharana along with Saqlain Mushtaq, Kyle Mills, Paul Harris, Rana Naved and Graham Onions.
However, in their final round-robin match last weekend, the Arabians were exposed to an extent, as the Virgo Super Kings restricted them to 144 for 5 in their 20 overs. But the Arabian bowlers displayed enough guile and direction to restrict their opponents to 122 for 5 and sign off on a winning note.
“We have played some really good cricket in the past five games and now the three days of rest should do us good. But we’ve got to forget about the games we have won and go all out to win the next one — as that is the one that really matters,” stand-in skipper Kyle Mills noted.
“Nothing is going to be easy from now on. We have to win the next two matches,” he added.
Luckily, the Virgo Super Kings will not need to contend with the Gemini Arabians for a spot in the final. The Graeme Smith-led team has the Leo Lions to face in the last four stages on Friday, and if everything goes as per form, they may just as well get braced for one final battle against the red-hot Arabians on Saturday.
Fact box: Semi-final line-up
Thursday (7.30 pm) Gemini Arabians vs Sagittarius Strikers
Friday (7.30 pm) Leo Lions vs Virgo Super Kings
