There is one spot left in the final of the ILT20 2025 season and on Friday we will find out who will fill it when Qualifier 2 takes place in Sharjah as the table toppers Desert Vipers go up against the home side Sharjah Warriorz for a shot at Dubai Capitals on Sunday.
The Vipers have already passed up one chance to make the final of the competition and know that they have to take advantage of their second one while the Warriorz are building momentum and will hope that continues here.
Desert Vipers
The Desert Vipers were the best team in the competition in the opening phase of it but they found out the hard way that what went before matters for little when the finals come along and having already bungled one chance to make the final, they now have to come through a do or die clash in order to finally make it through to the title showdown where they will hope to prove that they are the best team in the competition when it matters not just in the first part of the campaign.
The Vipers will be disappointed not to have made the final at the first time of asking because they had actually put up a decent score but for once their bowlers were unable to get the job done which has been unlike them. That is now two defeats on the trot for the Vipers so they will be looking to rediscover their bite for this one. Both of those losses were to the Dubai Capitals though and the Vipers will be well aware that they thrashed the Warriorz in both of their regular season meetings.
Sharjah Warriorz
The Sharjah Warriorz are delivering something of a fairytale run, one which they hope will carry them into the final and beyond. The Warriorz have been playing knockout cricket for a while given their early struggles this season and they head into Qualifier 2 off the back of four wins in succession and each of those wins have seen them get stronger with each match. They have to back up the win the day before but they are riding the crest of a wave so you wouldn’t expect that to be an issue.
One thing that might be a concern though is that all four wins on this recent run have been chasing a score down and you wonder if they will be a sitting duck if they are required to bat first, not just because of their record in this run but also because the Vipers have dominated them when they have had the Warriorz batting first. If Sharjah are going to win this then they will need to bowl every bit as well as they did against MI Emirates in the Eliminator on Thursday.
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Key Players
We saw the best of Alex Hales in the Qualifier 1 match but you only had to look at his face when he got out having gone past 50. He will know that in these matches he needs to go up to 80 and beyond and take his side to an insurmountable total.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore didn’t produce fireworks in the Eliminator on Thursday but his 40 from 40 balls was just what the situation needed as he marshalled the run chase into a position where it became a walk in the park for his teammates. He will be needed for runs here too.
Betting
I do think this match is all about the Desert Vipers. They seem to have a bit of an issue with the Dubai Capitals but they have dominated the rest of the competition and while the Sharjah Warriorz are on a charge at the minute, I think they match up badly to the Vipers and that is a concern. I’m already on the Vipers outright though so I’ll be cheering them on to make the final so that they give me a crack at landing the outright money so I won’t bet on the match outcome.
I am surprised that we have a sixes line of just 6.5 for the Vipers here. They have played two matches on this ground this season. They hit eight against the Warriorz and then six against the Capitals, although the latter was a dead rubber for Desert Vipers but with Rahmanullah Gurbaz adding to the big hitting firepower that the Vipers have to go along with the likes of Alex Hales, Sam Curran and Sherfane Rutherford, on a ground as small as this one it would be a surprise if the Vipers don’t get to seven sixes here.
Tips
Back Desert Vipers – Over 6.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back them here:
