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Shai Hope does a Bumrah, Avishka plays the knock of the year: ILT20 week one recap

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Last updated on 20 Jan 2025 | 07:42 AM
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Shai Hope does a Bumrah, Avishka plays the knock of the year: ILT20 week one recap

If you’re someone who missed the action from week one, don’t worry, we’ve got you fully covered

Two weekends, five double headers and 12 games later, we’re officially done with week one of ILT20 2025. It’s thus far been a competition completely dominated by the Desert Vipers, who have won four in four, but we’ve had some extraordinary individual performances throughout the competition from players from all teams.

If you’re someone who missed the action from week one, don’t worry; we’ve got you fully covered - in this article, we’ll be taking you through all the standout performances we’ve had thus far.

But to make sure you don’t miss out on any action from the second week, which starts today, we’re here to remind you that you can catch all the action from ILT20 LIVE on FanCode.

Top performances from week one

Fazalhaq Farooqi blows away the Capitals in the curtain-raiser

There’s nothing better than an absolutely electrifying showing to start a big tournament off, and that’s precisely what MI Emirates’ Fazalhaq Farooqi did against Dubai Capitals in game one. 

Farooqi walked in, took the ball and took 5/16 - the best-ever figures in the HISTORY OF THE COMPETITION!. And he did it in GAME ONE of the new season. That’s how you set the tone, alright!


This showing was just the beginning of the Farooqi storm. At the end of the first week, it’s he who tops the wickets charts with 11 scalps in just four games. 

Tom Kohler-Cadmore single-handedly sees the Sharjah Warriorz home

As an opener in T20 cricket, it doesn’t get more clutch than what Tom Kohler-Cadmore did in the clash against Gulf Giants.

Chasing 175, he batted all the way through, facing both the first and final ball of the innings and took his side home with an unbeaten 83, hitting the winning runs. The Warriorz were 13/1, 14/2, 127/5 and 148/7 at different stages of the chase, but that did not perturb TKC one bit. 



He kept his cool, focused on the task at hand, backed himself and got the job done. With 15 needed off 9 balls, TKC knocked all 15 runs off his own bat, taking a single off the final ball of the 19th over and taking 10 off the final over. ICE COLD!

Shai Hope with the most valiant one-man effort……in history?

Shai Hope’s second T20 century was a special one - because it was spectacular and true, but also because it was a Bumrah-esque carry job.

Chasing 188, Hope got 101 when no other batter managed to even get to 20. In fact, only two other batters - Brandon McMullen and Gulbadin Naib - got to double digits.



Here’s something even more crazy: Delhi Capitals’ score was 135 when Hope got to his ton. 

MI Emirates won the clash by 26 runs, but that was some effort by the West Indian!

Avishka Fernando’s KNOCK OF THE YEAR!

Avishka Fernando, playing the knock of the year in T20s so far, was not on our bingo card for 2025, but that’s precisely what happened in Sharjah.

Chasing 202, the Sri Lankan top-order batter enabled ‘god mode’ and produced one of the craziest onslaughts ever, smoking 81 off 27 balls. The right-hander got to his 50 off just 16 balls, making it not just the fastest fifty in ILT20 history but also the fastest fifty by a Sri Lankan EVER!

It was one of those knocks where EVERYTHING clicked for the batter. It was one of those knocks where all you could do was sit there and watch what’s happening in utter disbelief.



This was only the 15th instance in T20 history of a batter posting a 80+ score with a 300+ strike rate. The first such instance coming from the bat of a Sri Lankan.

Yeah, fair to say it was a knock for the ages. 

Mark Adair’s dreamy new-ball clinic versus the Vipers

As a bowler, trying to defend 120 in a T20 is a lost case 99/100 times. But in Dubai last week, Mark Adair produced a new-ball clinic that briefly gave Gulf Giants the hope of doing the impossible.

An extraordinary new-ball spell of the highest quality saw Adair bowl out by the eighth over, finishing with figures of 4-2-12-2.

His figures read 3-2-4-2 after three overs, and, at this point, the Vipers’ score read 22/2 at the end of the powerplay.

The Ireland superstar got the ball to do all sorts under lights, and he had the DV batters on a string. He could easily have had a five-fer inside the powerplay; that’s how outrageous his spell was.

To his dismay, the Vipers batters pounced on the other bowlers and got home comfortably in the end.

Tom Banton gets his first T20 ton since 2021

The forgotten man of English cricket, Tom Banton, is resurrecting his career right in front of his eyes, and he’s doing so at ILT20 2025 for MI Emirates.

Banton bagged the Player of the Match award in MIE’s second game of the tournament, against Dubai Capitals, for a 52-ball 74, but he took his game up a notch on January 19 (Sunday) against Sharjah Warriorz, striking an unbeaten 102 - the second ton overall of ILT20 2025 - to help MIE chase 177 without breaking a sweat.

Banton smashed 10 fours and six sixes, and the scary part was that he looked like he still had a couple of gears left in him.

The second-highest run-getter in the competition at the end of the first week, Banton’s re-emergence is quickly shaping into the story of the tournament. 

Catch all the action from ILT20 LIVE on FanCode

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