DP World ILT20 2025, Match 17 Review: Alishan Sharafu, Jason Holder star as Abu Dhabi Knight Riders win big against MI Emirates

Alishan Sharafu, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers played defining roles for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, as they defeated the MI Emirates by 42 runs, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, on Friday evening, in Season 3 of DP World ILT20. The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders moved to third place on the points table with the win, and Sharafu came away with the Player of the match award.

Batting first, the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders had a slow start, and midway through the powerplay, they lost Kyle Mayers for 11 and Michael-Kyle Pepper for a duck, off consecutive deliveries to Alzarri Joseph. Andries Gous and Charith Asalanka then absorbed the pressure, and steadied the ship with a couple of very handy contributions.

Sharafu continued his attack and finished with 55 to his name, whilst Holder added a quick 22 not out from seven deliveries, to help the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders reach 182/7 in their 20 overs. Pollard continued to look for the big hits in the final couple of overs, but it wasn’t to be for the MI Emirates, who came off second best. Pollard finished unbeaten on 69, having hit four boundaries and as many sixes.

Player of the Match, Alishan Sharafu, said “It was a pretty special one, and I didn't get many in all the other games, so wanted to cash in today. The wicket was a bit on the slower side, but once you bat a few balls you can try to take it from there.”

Meanwhile, Emirates all-rounder Dan Mousley also opened up on the loss against the Knight Riders on Friday, and remarked that the opposition completely outplayed them. He also praised ADKR's Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers for the outstanding individual performances with the ball, which stopped even Kieron Pollard from getting Emirates across the finishing line. 

"To be fair, one of those games where I thought ADKR completely outplayed us to be honest, both bat ball and in the field. To be fair, we took a few early wickets. I was already got two and two balls which gave us quite a bit of confidence going into that. Then I thought the way Jase (Holder) and Alishan batted I thought was beautiful. They played really well and obviously got up to a competitive score. Us losing early wickets didn't help that. Stalling through the middle wasn't ideal but I thought their score was a good score and it was too much for us today. They had become a bit harder to chase the total," he said.

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"I thought they bowled really well. Now that they wanted to bowl, it was quite hard to score. They were brilliant up top. David Willey bowled really well, Jase and Kyle (Mayers) bowled really well. It was one of those. We were already behind the game and it's a big S to get it from there. Polly (Pollard) played beautifully. To get 60, play a really proper knock to be honest and that was really good," Mousley added.