The penultimate day of action in the ILT20 2025 regular season is a double header day which gets underway in Abu Dhabi as the MI Emirates go up against the Sharjah Warriorz in what is a do or die scenario for the latter.
MI Emirates know that their next match after this one will be the Qualifier 1 clash while if the Sharjah Warriorz are to extend their season they have to win here. If they lose they will be out of the competition so this is huge for them.
MI Emirates
Whatever happens in this match the defending champions MI Emirates will finish the regular season second in the table so they have already guaranteed themselves two goes at making the final next week should they need them. The Emirates look like they are running into a decent head of steam at just the right time given that they have won their last two matches and they will be building up enough confidence to think that they can win this title from here.
The batting is starting to come to the party for the Emirates side. Prior to these latest wins their batting has been all about Tom Banton and while he is still delivering, others are getting in with him and it is making the champions a dangerous outfit right now. That is because their bowling has looked pretty good throughout the campaign and if that unit can remain in decent form for another week it would be no surprise to see MI Emirates making a successful defence of the crown.
Sharjah Warriorz
The Sharjah Warriorz go into their final match of the regular season sitting in fourth place but with the two sides below them in the table meeting in the second match of the day the equation for the Warriorz is a simple one. Because their net run rate is so bad they have to win this match to make it through. Anything else and their season will be over regardless of what happens later in the day so if there is a positive from the situation it will be that at least they can have some clarity of thought in the heat of battle.
The Warriorz are making a late bid to secure their top four finish. They have won their last two matches and if they can win a third then they will be competing in the Eliminator next week. In those matches their bowlers have largely done the job. They have restricted their opponents to 131/9 and 161/8 and in this competition that leads to relatively comfortable run chases. They will be hoping that their bowling can come up with the goods here too and create another comfortable day for the batters.
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Key Players
Tom Banton remains the leading batter in the competition and the MI Emirates will be hoping that he can do enough to keep his tally ticking over ahead of the knockout matches that come along for the champions next week.
Adam Zampa has come in for the Sharjah Warriorz and really hit the ground running and his spell of bowling here could be massive. You would imagine he will be utilised in the middle overs where he can try and outfox the likes of Banton and Nicholas Pooran and if he wins those battles the Warriorz could yet keep their campaign alive.
Betting
It is hard to ignore the form of Tom Banton in this tournament. He is the leading run scorer and he seems to love batting here in Abu Dhabi in particular. On this ground he has played five matches this season with scores of 74, 9, 1, 56 and 105 and in the reverse meeting between these two sides he smashed an unbeaten 102 in no time at all. You would imagine he will be keen to keep his good form going so he is a man to follow here.
I would have gone with his performance had he been keeping wicket but that isn’t the case and while he is still capable of taking catches they aren’t going to be as regular as if he was behind the stumps so the natural thing to do is take on his run line. If you shop around you can get 19.5 for a line but generally it is 20 and his form figures on this ground, particularly with the two failures both coming against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, and innings against this team earlier in the competition suggests he should cover that.
Tips
Back T.Banton – Over 19.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
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