“It was good to get the MVP however it might have been quite a bit nicer to get our fingers on the trophy and never see Nicky P holding it” – Sikandar Raza, on the eve of ILT20 2025.
Earlier than the third version of the ILT20 started, the captains of every franchise sat down for an interplay with Ian Bishop. Amongst them was Sikandar Raza, who would lead Dubai Capitals till Sam Billings arrived mid-tournament to take over, and Nicholas Pooran, who had led MI Emirates to the title in 2024.
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Raza had been named the Most Invaluable Participant in 2024 for his outstanding contributions with each bat and ball. However, as he quipped forward of ILT20 2025, he’d a lot reasonably have had the trophy than the award.
Raza had an opportunity to make his want come true, and he did it reasonably spectacularly. He walked in with 38 wanted off 19 balls, and the Capitals 5 wickets down.
Shortly after, Rovman Powell was out for a blistering 63, and the Capitals wanted 24 from the final two overs. All their hopes rested on Raza. That burden didn’t weigh him down although. As a substitute, it lifted him. Raza reeled off 4 fours and a six within the subsequent eight balls, displaying nerveless calm and scintillating strokeplay because the Capitals galloped to victory.
The Capitals had misplaced within the Eliminator in 2023, and within the ultimate in 2024. That they had come near successful the title, just for it to elude their grasp. When one other probability got here, Raza was not going to let go. Victory within the ultimate additionally meant that the Capitals had crushed Desert Vipers 4 instances in 4 conferences. Twice within the league stage, then in Qualifier 1, and at last within the title-clash.
Vipers had been the standout crew within the league part, and had solutions for every part the opposite groups threw at them. The one riddle they couldn’t crack was the Capitals. Not that it was simple.
In each playoff video games, Vipers placed on 189 batting first. Qualifier 1 was gained off the final ball of the match. The ultimate regarded misplaced earlier than Raza unleashed his strokes, nevertheless it was nonetheless a last-over victory.
The 2 greatest groups within the match performed successive thrillers, a becoming finale to an enthralling match.
The opposite groups had their moments, however the glory moments belonged to the 2 finalists.
The 2 groups who didn’t qualify, Gulf Giants and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, had a galaxy of stars however their lack of kind confirmed the vagaries of T20 cricket. They’ll maybe look again on the match and consider a few of the minor errors they might have prevented, and had a change in outcomes.
Blessing Muzarabani throughout the ILT20. (Creimas)
Giants had a standout performer in Blessing Muzarabani, who bowled robust overs, took wickets and stored the run-rate down. When it comes to affect, he was among the many two greatest bowlers of this version.
MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriorz each made the playoffs, and it was important for each. However extra so for Warriorz, who had by no means made it to the playoffs within the earlier two editions. Below a brand new captain in Tim Southee, they put collectively some strong performances and sufficient wins to be in fourth place within the league desk. The important thing sport for them was the Eliminator in opposition to Emirates. And in that highly-important match, Warriorz discovered a hero in Tim Seifert, who calmly whacked 40* off 20 balls to take his crew via to the second Qualifier.
Though Warriorz couldn’t then get previous Vipers, a third-place end was a big enchancment on earlier seasons.
Emirates will maybe really feel essentially the most what-could-have-been, as a result of they’d the league’s greatest batter in Tom Banton, the perfect bowler in Farooqi, and arguably the second-best batter too in Nicholas Pooran. Every of them had some standout performances, however what Emirates missed out on is stringing the performances collectively sufficient instances. That they had their possibilities to complete within the high two and missed out, they usually had their possibilities within the Eliminator and missed on the market too.
Which is why, ultimately it was the Capitals and Vipers standing on high of the heap. They pulled collectively as a crew, and had gamers backing up particular person brilliance with helpful nuggets. In addition they offered a conflict of sorts, with Capitals being hard-hitting until late within the order and Vipers placing collectively a gun bowling assault.
Vipers had Hasaranga, captain Lockie Ferguson, Mohammad Amir, Sam Curran and David Payne, who collectively took 54 wickets. Not that their batting was shabby, with the likes of Hales, Curran, Sherfane Rutherford and Fakhar Zaman offering loads of fireworks, however the bowling was a world-class unit.
Contrastingly, the Capitals had excessive batting depth, with the likes of Rovman Powell, Dasun Shanaka and Raza manning the decrease center order. The highest order had Shai Hope churning out runs, Gulbadin doing his factor, and even David Warner flying in and successful the primary sport off his personal bat.
Acquired knowledge in T20 cricket has it that batting wins matches whereas bowling wins tournaments. The Capitals triumph in opposition to Vipers challenged that, and turned it on its head.
(Saurabh Somani is a Pondicherry-based freelance cricket author. In his spare time, he watches the sport anyway.)
