Romario Shepherd put on an all-round display to help MI Emirates edge out Sharjah Warriorz in a thriller at Sharjah. Romario Shepherd played the key moments better as he first shone with the bat for a whirlwind finish before bowling the last over and holding his nerve to give the team the win. Put into bat first, MI Emirates put on 185/8 in 20 overs with their openers getting starts and then the amazing finish by Shepherd to give them the score.
While defending the score, they had to contain Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s half century and a whirlwind innings from Sikandar Raza who made 64 runs off 33 balls. But with 11 required from the final over, Shepherd got hit in his earlier overs nailed the yorker right as Dinesh Karthik failed to finish the game with the Warriors falling 4-runs short of the target.
Romario Shepherd’s blitz 31* off 10 balls powered MI Emirates to 185/8.Â
Put into bat first, Muhammad Waseem and keeper batter Jonny Bairstow opened the batting for MI Emirates while Maheesh Theekshana opened the bowling for Sharjah Warriorz. The opening batters started well and scored at a fair clip as well with both complimenting each other really well. Bairstow was the aggressor of the two and they dominated the powerplay if we could say so. They got off to a steady start scoring 49 runs in the powerplay for the loss of 0 wickets.
They brought up their 50-run stand up soon and had put 56 for the first wicket before Bairstow fell for 37 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name as Junaid Siddique struck for his side. Nicholas Pooran came out to bat next and was a real struggle for him as he just could not time the ball. Waseem and Pooran still put on 27 runs for the second wicket but it was Waseem who was the aggressor and main contributor in the partnership.
The duo crossed the half-way mark and then in the 11th over Pooran fell for 5 off 12 balls to Adil Rashid. Tom Banton came out to bat next. Rashid had two in the over then as he removed Waseem for 39 off 29 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name by cleaning him up. Shakib Al Hasan came out to join Banton in the middle. MI Emirates were 84/3 in 11 overs at this stage of the game.
Banton and Shakib put on 45 for the 4th wicket with Banton playing a really good hand while Shakib played good second fiddle to the batter and looked decent out there. The duo took the score from 84/3 in 11 overs to 129 in the 16th over when at the completion of that over Shakib was retired out for 16 off 12 balls with 2 fours to his name. Captain Kieron Pollard came out to bat next. Soon, Banton too fell for a well-made 32 off 21 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name as Adil Rashid got his third wicket.
Tajinder Singh joined Pollard in the middle. Tajinder was quickly off the blocks while Pollard faced just one ball and got off the mark with a boundary as well. Pollard hit Theekshana for a boundary and then got out also for 4 off 2 balls to Maheesh Theekshana. Out came Romario Shepherd to wield his magic. Tajiner was hitting the ball and Shepherd joined the party by striking huge maximums in the death overs.
Shepherd was on a roll as he did not spare any bowler bowling in the end overs. The duo added 16 runs very quickly before Tajinder fell for 17 off 8 balls with 2 sixes to his name as Tim Southee got his wicket. Allah Ghazanfar came out to bat next. He was run out in the last over for 1 off 2 balls. Naveen Ul Haq came out to bat but was at the non-striker’s end.
Shepherd acted like the finisher and finished things off in style by hitting the last two balls for maximums as Emirates went from 173/8 in 19.4 overs to finish with 185/8 in 20 overs with Shepherd remaining unbeaten on 31 off 10 balls with 1 four and 4 sixes to his name while Naveen was a spectator at the other end. 3 extras given by the fielding side.
For Sharjah Warriorz, Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/32 in 4 overs. Tim Southee the captain chipped in with 1/26 in 3 overs. Maheesh Theekshana chipped in with 1/42 in 4 overs. Junaid Siddique finished with 1/42 in 3 overs. Wasim Akram bowled 2 overs for 12 runs. Dwaine Pretorius bowled an over for 9 runs and Sikandar Raza bowled 3 overs for 22 runs. It meant that Sharjah Warriorz needed 186 runs to win off 20 overs for their first win in the competition.
Sikandar Raza’s whirlwind 64 goes in vain as Romario Shepherd holds his nerve to give MI Emirates the win.Â
Chasing 186 for the win, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Impact Player Johnson Charles came out to open for Sharjah Warriorz while Allah Ghazanfar had ball in hand for MI Emirates. Sharjah got off to a decent start as the openers complimented each other well. They scored at a decent rate before Impact Player Charles fell for 15 off 13 balls with 3 fours to his name to Naveen Ul Haq. Shubhham Ranjane came out to bat next. Ranjane and Kohler-Cadmore tried to build a solid stand.
But after adding 14 more runs to the tally, Ranjane fell for 6 off 7 balls with one boundary to his name. Tim David came out to bat next. David was quick off the blocks hitting 3 boundaries very quickly as he has been in rich vein of form. But David did not last long as he too fell for 13 off 7 balls with 3 fours to his name to Fazalhaq Farooqi. Sikandar Raza came out to bat next as the Warriorz were struggling at 48/3 in 6 overs and had work to do in the middle phase of the innings.
The middle phase was dominated by the duo of Raza and Cadmore as they put on a show and kept the Emirates bowlers at bay. It was the Sikandar Raza show as coming in at 5 in a pressure situation, he counter attacked and dominated the bowling while Tom Kohler-Cadmore played second fiddle. Whatever bowlers thrown at them were easily negotiated by the duo with Raza being the aggressor while Cadmore who opened the innings played second fiddle.
They took the game deep and built a century stand for the 4th wicket to bring the Sharjah Warriorz back on track. Sikandar blazed away to a breath-taking half century and was hungry for more going for the runs as MI now were on the back foot. They put on 103 for the 4th wicket before Raza the form player fell for a brilliant 64 off 33 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes to his name as Ghazanfar got a crucial wicket for his side.
Dwaine Pretorius came out to bat next but fell first ball for a golden duck as Ghazanfar had two in two balls and was on a hat-trick at one stage. Keeper batter Dinesh Karthik came out to bat next and negotiated the hat-trick ball as the match which seemed to god Sharjah’s way got another twist thanks to this double wicket over. Cadmore then took on the role of aggressor as Dinesh found it tough to time the ball from the get go.
Cadmore and Karthik built a partnership as well with Cadmore now taking the extra risk while Karthiks struggled with possible rustiness. Pretorius soon upped the ante and added 20 runs with Dinesh and completed his fifty. He did not last long after completing his fifty as he fell for 51 off 42 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Zahoor Khan. Adil Rashid came out to join DK in the middle.
With 11 required off the last ball, Romario Shepherd who went the distance with ball in hand was tasked to bowl the final over of the innings and nailed his yorker and showcased perfect death bowling. Dinesh Karthik had to go big but miscued it up in the air as Farooqi took the catch to seal the match as Karthik fell for 12 off 14 balls with one four to his name. Captain Tim Southee came out to bat next. But it was a bridge too far in the end as the Warriorz ended with 181/7 in 20 overs to lose by 4 runs with Rashid on 3* off 3 balls and Southee on 0* off 1 ball. 17 extras given by the fielding side.
It was collective bowling performance from MI Emirates. Allah Ghazanfar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/21 in 4 overs. Naveen Ul Haq chipped in with 2/29 in 4 overs. Impact Player Fazalhaq Farooqi chipped in with 1/31 in 4 overs. Zahoor Khan chipped in with 1/36 in 3 overs. Romario Shepherd finished with 1/31 in 3 overs. Shakib Al Hasan went for 27 runs in 2 overs. So, MI Emirates win by 4 runs for their first win this season. Romario Shepherd for his all-round show was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead.Â
Next up on ILT20 2025 is a clash between Desert Vipers up against Gulf Giants on December 8th 2025 at 8 PM IST. It is a single header day on Monday. Both teams have started well and would like to keep on their winning momentum. Let’s see who comes out on top in this clash.
Also Read:Â ILT20 2025: Gulf Giants Go Top Of Table With 2 Wins Out Of 2