At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Liam Livingstone did something which even the spectators were stunned to see. England’s explosive batsman set the tone for the World ILT20 League in his very first match. Playing for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Livingstone played a stormy innings of 82 runs in just 38 balls, which included 8 sixes and 2 fours. Thanks to his brilliant performance, the team scored a huge score of 233/4, which is the second highest score in the history of this league.
havoc in the last over
The most exciting part of Livingstone’s innings was the last over. Dwayne Pretorius came to bowl and was breathing a sigh of relief after bowling the first ball, but in the next moments his patience broke. Livingstone scored 33 runs in the over by hitting 5 consecutive sixes from the second to the sixth ball. This over not only gave new heights to his innings, but also changed the entire momentum of the match in favor of Knight Riders.
Smoky batting from beginning to end
Before Livingstone arrived, Alex Hales (32) and Alishan Sharafu (34) gave the team a fast start. Livingstone, who came at number 4, started playing big shots from the very beginning. Sherfane Rutherford also gave good support in the middle overs by scoring 45 runs in 27 balls and together they gave quadruple speed to the scoreboard.
Warriors team could not survive
Sharjah Warriors, who set a huge target of 234 runs, had a bad start. The team lost three key wickets in the powerplay itself, Johnson Charles (10), Tom Abel (6) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (14). However, Tim David made the match a little exciting by playing a explosive inning of 60 runs in 24 balls. He also hit three sixes in one over of Piyush Chawla, but the run chase became difficult due to continuous fall of wickets.
In the end, Pretorius (39) and Adil Rashid (25) scored quickly, but the team could only reach 194/9. As a result, Knight Riders won the match by 39 runs.
