One week into the ILT20 2025, Dubai Capitals were sitting at the bottom of the table with a solitary win in four matches. And that victory was by a single run, in a match MI Emirates should have actually won. It’s never too wise to write off quality in a T20 league though, and the Capitals had plenty of that in Shai Hope, Dasun Shanaka, Gulbadin Naib, Sikandar Raza, Dushmantha Chameera and the like. The end result is that last year’s finalists have finished in the top two, and are well-placed to reach a second consecutive final. All in all, an absorbing league stage has set the stage nicely for the playoffs.
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The Dubai Capitals resurgence
It began with a victory against the table-topping Desert Vipers in the Capitals’ fifth match. It meant the Capitals were still scrapping, even if from the bottom of the table. But that led to a run of three wins and a steady rise. The endgame was crucial though. Their last two games were against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and the return match against Vipers.
David Warner joined them before the Knight Riders match, and promptly reeled off 93 not out off 57 balls. Qais Ahmad, who had also returned for that game, then did the match-turning act against Vipers with 4 for 25. And just like that, Capitals had gone from 8 points and looking like they could be done in by net run-rate, to 12 points, just behind the Vipers’ 14. And it will not have escaped either team’s notice that Capitals beat Vipers in both encounters in the league stage.
Dasun Shanaka, traveller or Time Traveller
There was another remarkable facet of Capitals’ win against Knight Riders on February 2. Shanaka, who ended up smashing 34 off 12 balls, wasn’t even at the ground until two overs into the innings. He was named in the team sheet at the toss even though he was still in the team hotel. He wasn’t sulking, and he hadn’t missed the bus to the ground. He had just arrived from Sri Lanka.
Incredibly enough, Shanaka went back to Sri Lanka to take part in a first-class game for Sinhalese Sport Club against Moors Sport Club. For good measure, he completed a century early on February 2, and then flew back to Dubai to coolly smash four fours and two sixes in 12 balls. Shanaka might be the first person to play a first-class match and a T20 match on the same day. And he did it in different time zones.
Gulf Giants’ fall, despite Blessing Muzarabani
The tall Zimbabwe bowler gets fewer opportunities than his skills deserve. He took 16 wickets in the league stage, joint third-highest. But his economy rate of 6.64 was in a different league to the others at the top of the list. He invariably provided either control or a breakthrough, often both.
But the Giants, winners in the inaugural edition in 2023 and one of the fancied teams this year, couldn’t put enough performances together and ended up finishing fifth. The only team that finished below them were Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, who had even more star power, but lost their way at the business end, with four straight defeats.
Tom Banton keeps gunning it
He finished the league stage on a massive 464 runs in 10 games. Shai Hope was marginally higher at 467, but Banton got his runs at a strike rate of 155, while Hope was at 127.
Banton showed the full range of strokes that had marked him out from an early age as a talent to watch out for. The late charge by Dubai Capitals meant that MI Emirates finished third on the table, after looking good for a top-two finish for much of the competition.
That, however, gives Banton potentially three more games to add to his tally. The runs he has now are already the fourth most he has scored in a tournament ever (behind the 549 runs, 515 runs and 468 runs scored in the T20 Blast in 2019, 2024 and 2023), but it’s well within his scope to rise even higher.
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