The 25^th match of the Emirates D20 Tournament will be played between Team Abu Dhabi and ECB Blues at the ICC Cricket Academy, Dubai.

LIVE - ECB Blues and Team Abu Dhabi- Match 25

ECB Blues are comfortably placed at the number 2 position on points table with 6 wins to their belt out of 8 games played so far.

In their last match against Sharjah Bukhatir XI, ECB Blues won the toss and elected to bat first. They got off to a cautious start and lost Aryan Lakra during the powerplay overs. Post that, Alishan Sharafu and Vriitya Aravind got together for the 2^nd wicket and weaved a partnership of 66 runs. They played smart and caressed the ball to all parts of the ground for quick singles and doubles while keeping the wickets in hand for the late innings burst. Alishan Sharafu was the first one to show intent and played very well for his 56 off 47 deliveries. However, Alishan alone could not provide all the momentum needed in the innings and there were no other batsmen that left an impact. ECB Blues finished with a total of 138 on board in 20 overs.

Sharjah Bukhatir XI would have been the happier side going into dressing room after the first innings. 138 was not a big total but a competitive one. Sharjah Bukhatir XI lost their first wicket on first ball and Renjth Mani was dismissed for a golden duck. After that, Khalid Shah played some brilliant strokes for his 24 off 19 balls. However, he was soon dismissed by Waheed Ahmed and the second wicket partnership of 39 runs was broken.  After Khalid Shah was dismissed, the Sharjah Bukhatir XI innings derailed and they lost too many wickets. They went from 46 for 3 to 46 for 6. These numbers clearly state the standards of bowling performance by ECB Blues especially Waheed Ahmed who picked up 3 wickets for 15 runs in his 4 overs. In the lower order, Umair Ali and Krishan Paul ignited some hope of chasing the target but once Umair Ali was dismissed for 33 runs, those slim hopes disappeared too. Sharjah Bukhatir XI lost the game to ECB Blues by 20 runs in the end.

Team Abu Dhabi is having a dreadful tournament so far and they have lost 6 of their 8 matches so far, with 2 games having been abandoned.

In their last game against Dubai Pulse Secure, Team Abu Dhabi got a chance to bat first and score a dominating total to defend against a good looking opposition. However, they got off to a terrible start losing opener Midhun Sudhakar for a golden duck. After Sudhakar departed, Surjith Manohardas took the responsibility of taking the team to a good start in the powerplay overs. He struck some good looking boundaries before being dismissed by Nilansh Keswani at the score of 16. He was soon followed with the departure of Aaryan Madani and Sahil Sunil Hariani. All of a sudden, Team Abu Dhabi were 17 for 4 and in trouble. Irfan Khan, who arrived at number 4 position hit a few to the fence for his 27 runs but he too perished leaving Team Abu Dhabi in a struggle to reach 100 runs. A poor batting performance by the middle and lower order meant that Team Abu Dhabi were folded up for a total of 68.

Team Abu Dhabi were always going to be in trouble with such a low score to defend. However, they started off well by taking the wickets of Shahrukh Sheikh and Adnaan Khan in the powerplay overs. Muhammad Usman and Bilal Cheema then carefully crafted the innings and kept scoring boundaries on loose balls to take their team closer to the target. In the end, Dubai Pulse Secure easily chased the target with 7 wickets in hand.

   Let’s have a look at the squads

Team Abu Dhabi

Aaryan Madani, Ben Willgoss, Jishnu Vattekkatt Balan, Kai Smith, Karthik Nagendran, Matiullah Khan, Mazhar Bashir, Midhun Sudhakar Pattlikkadan, Mudassir Hussain, Navalesh Naidoo, Osama Hasan Shah, Paresh Katkar, Pasindu Wanniarachchi, Sahil Sunil Hariani, Soorya Sathish and Surjith Manohardas.

 

ECB Blues

Adhitya Shetty, Ali Shan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Aryan Lakra, Ateeq ur Rehman, Basil Hameed, Fahad Nawaz, Junaid Siddique, Kartik Meiyappan, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Rizwan CP, Sanchit Sharma, Vriitya Aravind, Waheed Ahmad and Zahoor Khan.

                     

Cricket Betting Tips and Match Predictions* - PrePlay

 

Who will win the toss? – ECB Blues

Who will win? – ECB Blues

Top Batsman (Runs Scored) – Surjith Manohardas (Team Abu Dhabi), Alishan Sharafu (ECB Blues)

Top Bowler (Wickets taken) –Matiullah Khan (Team Abu Dhabi), Aryan Lakra (ECB Blues)

Most Sixes –  Surjith Manohardas (Team Abu Dhabi), Alishan Sharafu (ECB Blues)

Man of the Match-  Aryan Lakra (ECB Blues)

Team Scores Batting first – Team Abu Dhabi 110+, ECB Blues 155+

Match Handicap- ECB Blues

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*NB these predictions may be changed nearer the start of the match once the final starting teams have been announced and we will be running ‘In–Play’ features, so stay tuned.

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