Romario Shepherd had an excellent all-round performance to lead MI Emirates to a 28-run win over the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in International League T20 (ILT20) action at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Tom Banton and Andre Fletcher produced a pair of excellent performances with the bat as the MI Emirates produced a demolition over the Desert Vipers in International League T20 (ILT20) action on Monday. Banton hit his second hundred of the tournament while Fletcher fell four runs shy of an unbeaten hundred as the Emirates beat the Vipers by a mammoth 154 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
The MI Emirates rebounded from an opening game defeat at the hands of the Dubai Capitals on Saturday with a 26-run win over the same opposition on Monday to get their first points of the 2025 International League T20 (ILT20) season on Monday.
The Emirates first posted 180-4 from their 20 overs after the Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first.
The UAE’s Muhammad Waseem top scored with a 43-ball 60 including one four and six sixes while captain Kieron Pollard continued his excellent form throughout the season with 43 off just 17 deliveries including four fours and three sixes.
The Knight Riders reply fell short by 18 runs despite a top score of 42 from 22 balls from Andre Russell. His knock included five fours and two sixes.
Dwayne Bravo took 3-37 from his four overs while Imran Tahir and Zahoor Khan took two wickets each.
The Emirates have now booked a spot in the playoffs with a game to spare in the league phase.
Scores: MI Emirates 180-4 off 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 60, Kieron Pollard 43) Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 162 off 19.2 overs (Andre Russell 42, Joe Clarke 22, Dwayne Bravo 3-37, Imran Tahir 2-20, Zahoor Khan 2-33).
In a dazzling display of batting brilliance, MI Emirates overcame a spirited half-century from Johnson Charles as they stormed to a commanding nine-wicket victory over Sharjah Warriors at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The Sharjah Warriorz defeated the MI Emirates by six wickets in the International League T20 (ILT20) eliminator at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday. St. Lucian Johnson Charles made 36 off 20 balls including seven fours and a six to help the Warriors reach 149-4 in 18.5 overs chasing down 147 for victory.
Fakhar Zaman’s 67 and a rapid 21* off just eight balls from Sherfane Rutherford propelled the Desert Vipers to their third win in a row to begin the 2025 International league T20 (ILT20) season.
MI Emirates scored 241-3 from their 20 overs before skittling the Desert Vipers out for just 84.
Fletcher scored his 50 from 39 balls in a 141-run opening partnership with Player of the Match Mohammad Waseem, who hit 11 fours and two sixes in his top score of 86.
Fletcher’s dismissal in the 13th over saw ME Emirates slip from 141-0 to 152 for 3 as Waseem was next to go in the 15th over with big hitter Najibullah Zadran going two balls later for a duck.
Enter Captain Pollard who smashed his 50 from just 19 balls while he and Dan Mousley mounted an unbeaten stand of 89 in 32 balls to propel MI Emirates to their daunting total.
Pollard’s unbeaten 50 contained four fours and four sixes while Mously contributed a valuable 31 from just 17 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Tom Curran, who had the wickets of Waseem and Zadran was expensive yielding 63 runs from his four overs.
The pressure of the score proved too much for the Vipers. They crumbled in the face of the bowling of Fazalhaq Farooqi who took 3-18, Zahoor Khan 1-9 and Imran Tahir, who wrapped up the match with 2-18 in 3.1 overs.
With their fourth win in seven games, MI Emirates are third in the six-team standings with nine points, one behind Gulf Giants and Desert Vipers, who still lead despite the loss.
With the win Gulf Giants booked a place in Sunday’s 2023 ILT20 final where they will face Desert Vipers.
Coming off their emphatic eight-wicket victory over Dubai Capitals on Thursday MI Emirates looked a jaded team, scoring 167-5 from their 20 overs.
Pollard scored an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls while Nicholas Pooran contributed with 29 and opener Mohammad Waseem, 31.
Chris Jordan took 2-25 and David Wiese 2-31.
In reply, James Vince played a gem of an innings, scoring unbeaten 83 including the winning runs, a four off Fazalhaq Farooqi as Gulf Giants scored 168-6 from 18.1 overs.
Farooqi took 2-27 and Rashid Khan, 2-40 in the losing cause. Dwayne Bravo took 1-27.
The Emirates’ innings got off to the worst possible start with openers Muhammad Wasim (5) and Vritiya Aravind (3) being removed within the first three overs after the Vipers won the toss and elected to field first.
Grenadian Andre Fletcher and former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran then combined to put on 43 for the third wicket before Fletcher fell in the ninth over for 21 to leave them 53-3.
Captain Kieron Pollard then joined Pooran at the crease and the pair batted excellently, eventually bringing up their 100-run partnership in the 19th over, the same over which saw Pooran bring up a well-compiled 50.
Pollard brought up his 50, his second in a row, in the previous over with a trademark straight six.
The partnership reached 116 when Pooran was finally dismissed, bowled by Tom Curran in the final over for 57.
In the end, the Emirates closed their innings 169-5 off 20 overs with Pollard not out on 67 from 39 balls including one boundary and six sixes.
The Vipers chase was rocked early when Trent Boult removed Rohan Mustafa for one in the first over to bring captain Collin Munro to the crease.
Hales and Munro put on a partnership before Munro was removed by a spectacular catch from Kieron Pollard for 41 in the eighth over.
One brought two for the Emirates as Samit Patel got his second wicket in the over, removing Sam Billings for just one to leave the Vipers 76-3 bringing Sherfane Rutherford to the crease.
At the halfway stage of the chase, the Vipers were 101-3 with Hales (34) and Rutherford (18) going smoothly.
The pair continued along and Hales brought up his fifth score of 50+ in a row in the 15th over before a single in the 16th over brought up Rutherford’s 50 off just 26 balls.
The match was ended in the 17th over when Rutherford hit a boundary and then a single to lead the Vipers to their fourth win in five games.
Hales ended up unbeaten on 62 from 44 balls while Rutherford faced 29 balls for his 56. Hales’ knock included six fours and two sixes while Rutherford hit four fours and three sixes.
Scores: MI Emirates 169-5 from 20 overs, Desert Vipers 170-3 from 17.3 overs.
Shimron Hetmyer’s Gulf Giants secured a tense last-ball win over the MI Emirates in International League T20 (ILT20) action at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Holder’s three wickets for 36 runs, included the scalp of fellow West Indians Dwayne Bravo (two) and Akeal Hosein (seven), as well as Will Smeed (five), as Pooran’s MI Emirates, were restricted to 159-9, before being put to the sword by Dubai Capitals, who easily got to 160-3 with four overs to spare.
Scores: MI Emirates 159-9 (20 overs); Dubai Capitals 160-3 (16 overs)
Zimbabwe’s spinner Sikandar Raza also bagged three wickets for 21 runs from his four overs for the Capitals and was later named Man-of-the-Match, as his combination with Holder offered the opponents very little room to play their shots.
In fact, apart from opener Muhammad Waseem’s 26-ball 51 which included four sixes and two fours, only Andre Fletcher (30), Pooran (21) and Australian Tim David (27), got into double figures for MI Emirates, who were sent to bat by Dubai Capitals captain David Warner.
Fletcher had two sixes and three fours in his 18-ball knock, while Pooran had a solitary six and four in his 23-ball innings.
The Capitals run chase started shakily, as they lost Warner (one) with 15 runs on the board.
However, Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz (81) and 21-year-old Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk (54), steadied the innings with a 114-run second-wicket stand that erased whatever hopes MI Emirates had of securing victory.
Gurbaz slammed four sixes and eight fours in his 39-ball knock, while Fraser-McGurk, who was brought in for Paul Van Meekeren, had four sixes and four fours in his innings which used a mere 25 balls.
After both fell, Englishman Sam Billings (13 not out), and West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell (seven not out), saw the Capitals to victory.
New Zealand’s left-arm seamer Trent Boult led the Emirates bowling with two for 23 from four overs.
After being sent to bat, MI Emirates led by top scores of 42 by Andre Fletcher and Kusal Perera respectively, and 37 from Pooran, posted 180-7 from their allotment, before Hosein bowled with skill and accuracy to grab 4-23 in restricting the Warriors to a paltry 74.
Scores: MI Emirates 180-7 (20 overs); Sharjah Warriors 74 all out (12.1 overs)
Hosein first accounted for fellow West Indian Johnson Charles (one), who for the first time since the start of the tournament, failed to get in on the runs. The Trinidad and Tobago left-arm spinner then snared another three wickets -Joe Denly (six), Basil Hameed (zero) and Daniel Sams (zero) -in the eighth over.
In fact, Hosein thought he had a fourth in the over and, by extension, the first hat-trick in ILT20 history when he had Englishman Chris Woakes adjudged leg-before-wicket. However, the decision was later overturned on review, as the ball pitched outside the leg stump.
New Zealander Martin Guptill (17), Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella (22) and England's Lewis Gregory (10), offered minimal resistance in the Warriors dismal innings.
Earlier, 'Spiceman' Fletcher and Sri Lankan Perera put together a 92 second-wicket stand that was the foundation of the MI Emirates innings. Fletcher slammed four fours and two sixes in his 31-ball 42, while Perera had three fours and three sixes in his 25-ball 42.
Pooran chipped in with a 37 off 29 balls, which includes a solitary four and two sixes, with Australian Tim David being the next best scorer with a 16-ball 20.
Pakistani Muhammad Jawadullah was the pick of the Warriors bowling with 3-31 from his over overs.
With the win, MI Emirates remain atop the standing on six points, the Warriors are fifth on two points.
The pair will join the likes of Andre Fletcher, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, McKenny Clarke and Nicholas Pooran on the MI Emirates roster.
Elsewhere, Johnson Charles will join the Sharjah Warriors, who also retained Trinidadian all-rounder Mark Deyal ahead of next season’s tournament.
Dominic Drakes will don the colors of defending champions, Gulf Giants, alongside Carlos Brathwaite and Shimron Hetmyer.
Brathwaite was the man of the match in this year’s final as the Giants beat the Desert Vipers by seven wickets.
The 2024 season is set to get underway on January 13.
Nicholas Pooran played a captain’s knock on Friday, smashing an unbeaten 58 off 37 balls to guide MI Emirates to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Gulf Giants in the ILT20. His composed yet destructive innings, along with Romario Shepherd’s blistering cameo, ensured MI Emirates chased down a target of 174 with five balls to spare.
Kieron Pollard hit an unbeaten half century but it wasn’t enough to prevent the MI Emirates from going down by 42 runs to the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in International League T20 (ILT20) action at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Pollard's appointment at MI Cape Town comes as Rashid Khan, who led the team last season, has been ruled out of the upcoming season, as he continues to recover from a back surgery. The ace leg spinner was named in the Afghanistan squad on January 6 for their three-match T20I series in India, but is unlikely to play, according to a statement from his cricket board (ACB). Khan also missed Afghanistan's most recent T20I series in the UAE and the Big Bash League (BBL).
As such, the powerfully built Pollard has not only been drafted to make his debut in the SA20 but will lead from the front given his experience as a five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) Champion, a two-time Champions League (CLT20) Champion, and a Major League (MLC) Champion, across the Mumbai Indians franchises.
The explosive middle-order batsman was also retained by MI Emirates for the upcoming ILT20 campaign, but with its dates clashing with the SA20's, Pooran has been given the reins of MI Emirates captaincy. It remains to be seen whether Pollard will join MI Emirates for the last leg of the ILT20 in the UAE.
Pollard was recently in action for New York Strikers in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, where his side lost the final to Deccan Gladiators.
Pooran, who also plays with Pollard at Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), recently declined his West Indies central contract to become a free agent.
The left-hand batsman, who is also a former West Indies white-ball captain, Pooran was unveiled as Durban's Super Giants' wildcard pick in September 2023, and is likely to play three matches in the SA20 before linking up with MI Emirates for the second season of the ILT20.
The one-month SA20 will run from January 10 to February 10, and the ILT20 from January 19 to February 17. The two leagues will also clash with New Zealand's Super Smash and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Batting first, Dubai Capitals mustered 152-5 from their 20 overs. In reply, MI Emirates scored 152-2 from 16.4 overs.
Dubai Capitals owed their total to George Munsey who scored 51 from 43 balls, Sikander Raza, 38, and Rovman Powell, 30. No other batter got into double figures against the tight bowling of Trent Boult 2-19 and Rashid Khan 2-20. Darren Bravo who dismissed Powell took 1-35.
Whatever struggles Dubai Capitals had on the pitch were barely evident when MI Emirates batted as Fletcher scored an unbeaten 68 from 45 balls, hitting four fours and four sixes along the way.
Pooran, who was named Player of the Match, was even better with his unbeaten 66 coming from just 36 balls and included three fours and five sixes as they raced to victory with 20 balls to spare.
Together, the Caribbean men scored 104 runs from 58 balls in what was a dominant performance.
Chasing a meagre 96, Pooran laced an unbeaten 16-ball 39, including one four and five sixes, as MI Emirates comfortably go to their target in a mere 8.1 overs. The aggressive left-hand batsman, who scored a half-century in his team’s first win over the weekend, starred in an unbroken 54-run second wicket partnership with Pakistani Muhammad Waseem.
Waseem was also unbeaten on 26 off 20 balls, after he earlier partnered with Kusal Perera (22) in a 42-run opening stand that laid the platform for the successful chase.
Scores: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 95 all out (14.1 overs); MI Emirates 96-1 (8.1 overs)
Earlier, New Zealand seamer Trent Boult (3-14), UAE’s Muhammad Rohid (3-25) and West Indian spinner Akeal Hosein (2-21) ran amok through Abu Dhabi Knight Riders' innings in which Russell was one of only two batsmen to get into double figures.
The explosive Russell, marched to the middle in the seventh over with Abu Dhabi Knight Riders reeling at 22-5, and restored a bit of parity with a 25-ball 48, but the damage was already done. His counter-attacking innings included three fours and four sixes, with opener Alishan Sharafu (10) the other batsman in double figure.
With the win, MI Emirates assumed pole position on the standings with four points from three games, while Knight Riders are in fifth position on two points with a win and a loss.
Despite a 40-ball 61 from captain Nicholas Pooran, defending champions MI Emirates opened their 2025 International League T20 (ILT20) campaign with an agonizing one-run loss to the Dubai Capitals at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.