Former England opener Alex Hales became the second-highest run-scorer in T20 history but was on the losing side as Dubai Capitals beat Desert Vipers to reach the final of the International League T20.

Hales, 36, made 67 from 32 balls as he moved ahead of Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik and West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard.

The right-hander has scored 13,558 runs and is now only behind West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who has 14,562 runs.

Hales averages 30.06 across 488 innings and 2,074 of his runs came for England, including 212 in their 2022 T20 World Cup-winning campaign in Australia.

He was supported by Dan Lawrence (36 off 26), Max Holden (35 off 25) and Sam Curran (24 off 21) as Vipers, who topped the group stage table, posted 189-7.

Capitals openers Adam Rossington and Shai Hope shared 51 for the first wicket but the key innings were played by Afghanistan’s Gulbadin Naib (62 off 39) and Sam Billings (38 off 16).

They needed 12 from the final over and Gulbadin reduced that to one off two balls before being dismissed by Lockie Ferguson.

But Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza hit a four off the final ball to seal a five-wicket win and a place in Sunday’s final.

Vipers will have another chance in Friday’s qualifier against the winner of Thursday’s eliminator between MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriorz.