Just when it mattered the most for the Deccan Gladiators, David Wiese pulled a rabbit from his hat to help Nicholas Pooran’s men successfully defend their Abu Dhabi T10 title.

Despite finishing the ADT10 Season 6 league stages with two consecutive defeats, Deccan Gladiators returned to winning ways in the play-offs. After defeating Team Abu Dhabi in the Eliminator and Morrisville Samp Army in Qualifier 2, they got the better of New York Strikers in the final, ending the debutants’ seven-match winning streak.

David Wiese takes down in-form Wahab Riaz

The Gladiators, despite making 54 runs in five overs, had lost three wickets in the first innings. They needed a big contribution from skipper Nicholas Pooran and David Wiese and the duo did not disappoint.

Wiese, who finished with 43 runs in 18 balls, targeted the in-form Wahab Riaz in the eighth over. He smoked three massive sixes in the first four deliveries, all of them disappearing over different parts of the ground. The first one went over the third man fielder, followed by sixes over square leg and long-on.

He finished the over with a boundary towards backward point to complete 24 runs in the over as the Gladiators managed 128 runs batting first for the loss of four wickets.

Early wickets from Joshua Little and Mohammad Hasnain derailed the Strikers and they never recovered from these early blows. A couple of cameos from Azam Khan and skipper Kieron Pollard got the Strikers to 91/5 in 10 overs.

Pooran, who was the highest run-scorer (345 runs), got a 23-ball 40 in the final. He was also named Player of the Tournament for Abu Dhabi T10 Season 6 courtesy a heroic campaign with the bat.

Samp Army trump Team Abu Dhabi in third-place play-off

Andries Gous made it to the playing XI in the third-place play-off for the Morrisville Samp Army and the South African opener smashed 68 runs in 33 balls, including six fours and five huge sixes.

Moeen Ali (23 off nine deliveries) and Karim Janat (27 off 16 balls) chipped in with vital contributions as Morrisville made 127/2 batting first.

Team Abu Dhabi became just the second team to get bowled out in the sixth edition (after Bangla Tigers) and registered the lowest score of the tournament.

Bas de Leede and Kashif Daud returned with three wickets each for the Samp Army, as Abu Dhabi were bundled out for just 48 runs in 8.4 overs.

Morrisville Samp Army finished third in their maiden appearance at the Abu Dhabi T10 after finishing second in the league stages.