In the 11th match of the inaugural season of the ILT20, played at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders encountered the MI Emirates. MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field first. In the hope of their third consecutive victory, MI Emirates took the field with the same team, while the ADKR changed their team combination in search of their maiden win in the DP World ILT20.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs. MI Emirates Highlights, post-match analysis, the man of the match, and result
The match began with the MIE left-arm pace duo of Trent Boult and Farooqi, who got off to a strong start with an early breakthrough in the first over, courtesy of Boult. ADKR had a steady start in the powerplay and scored 41 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. The Sri Lankan star Dhananjiya De Silva was the standout player for the Knight Riders, playing the anchoring role and scoring 65 runs off of 40 balls. Along with Silva, Asalanka, Russel, and captain Narine played supporting roles and helped ADKR reach a competitive total of 170 runs.
In the second innings, MI Emirates chased a total of 170 runs, struggled to score runs in the start, and openers got dismissed early on. Young left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein impressed once again with his skills and was economical during the powerplay, along with his partner Lahiru Kumara. After the early loss of two wickets, Fletcher and Nicholas Pooran kept the runs coming at a steady pace. Fletcher achieved his maiden fifty in the ILT20.
However, when Fletcher attempted to play some more aggressive strokes, he was dismissed by Kumara. At this point, it seemed as though ADKR was on the edge of winning the game, but great stroke play by Najibullah Zadran and Dwayne Bravo helped MIE to snatch victory from the jaws of ADKR and won the game on the last ball of the 20th over by 5 wickets.
Man Of The Match – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs MI Emirates
Najibullah Zadran was awarded the man of the match award for his brilliant match-winning cameo. He scored 35 on 17 balls and chased down 20 runs in the last over. Without any doubt, that was an amazing knock by the Afghani star.
Results – ADKR vs MIE
Finally, we observed the first close game of the ILT20, where MIE won the match against ADKR on the last ball courtesy of Najibullah Zadran’s cameo.