Abu Dhabi T-10 League presented by Sky247.net – All you need to know

From Test (5 days) to one-day to T-20, cricket has evolved quite significantly. Shorter formats of the game with matches ending in a few hours are attracting audiences aplenty. Due to this increased interest in shorter formats, a 10-overs-a-side league was introduced in 2017 in the United Arab Emirates called the Abu Dhabi T-10 League.

Cricketers from all over the globe were a part of this league and because of its unprecedented success, four editions have been completed. Abu Dhabi T-10 League’s fifth edition will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium Abu Dhabi from November 19, 2021 to December 4, 2021.

Six different teams will be participating in the fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi T-10 League. A total of 35 matches will be played, including 30 group stage matches & 5 qualifiers.

Like other cricket formats, T-10 cricket is also a battle between bat and ball, but some features differentiate T-10 cricket from Test, ODI & T-20 Cricket formats.

The format

Six teams participating in the 5th edition of T-10 League at Abu Dhabi will play 30 group stage matches. The opening match of the group stage will be played between defending champions Northern Warriors and Delhi Bulls. The six participating teams are:

1. Northern Warriors

2. Delhi Bulls

3. Bengal Tigers

4. Team Abu Dhabi

5. Chennai Braves

6. Deccan Gladiators.

Each team will play 10 matches, which means every team will play the other 5 teams twice each. After the 30 group stage matches, the bottom two teams will be eliminated, and the top four teams will play the qualifying stage.

The format is like the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the only difference is that in the T-10 League, there will also be a match to decide the 3rd placed team.

The qualifying stage will have 5 matches, the top two teams of the group stage will play a qualifier and the winner of that qualifier will go straight into the finals. The team placed at 3rd and 4th position in the group stages will play an eliminator, the loser of that game will be eliminated from the competition.

The winner of the eliminator and the loser of the qualifier will play to decide which team will be joining the finalists. The final will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium Abu Dhabi on the 4th of December 2021.

The Rules

The rules of T-10 League are a bit different from other cricket formats. There will be a total of 20 overs, with each team bowling a maximum of 10 overs. This is the fastest format of cricket, and 10 overs of batting means that the batters would hardly get any time to settle and would have to go all guns blazing from ball one.

The teams will have to come up with new strategies to tackle the onslaught of the batters and the batters will have only 10 overs to put a fighting total on the board; this makes T-10 perhaps the most exciting format of cricket. The match has to end in 90 minutes, meaning each team must complete their quota of 10 overs in 45 minutes.

Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 2 overs, which has its advantages & disadvantages. Bowling only 12 balls would mean that the bowler can put extra effort into his bowling, but it would also mean that the bowler wouldn’t have enough time to set up the batters.

The powerplay phase of the game was introduced to make cricket more exciting. With fielders staying inside the circle during the powerplay, the batters have the chance to score freely by hitting over the top. Each T10 League game will have 3 overs of powerplay, the first two overs and a floating powerplay which can be taken between the 3rd and the 9th over of the game.

In case of rain, the match can only be curtailed to 5 overs and not less than that. The Duckworth-Lewis system can also be applied if the team batting second has batted 5 or more overs.

In the knockout games of the T10 League, a tie match will be decided by playing a super over. If the super over also ends in a tie, the team which was better placed in the group stages will be declared the winner. Though, if the super over is tied in the finals, there will be more super overs until we have a winner.

The Squads

Many icons of international cricket are going to be a part of the 5th edition of Abu Dhabi T10 League. The squads for each team are:

Norther Warriors – Chris Jordan (Marquee Player), Rovman Powel (c), Rayad Emrit, Moeen Ali, Imran Tahir, Upul Tharanga, Reece Topley, Samit Patel, Kennar Lewis, Abhimanyu Mithun, Kaunain Abbas, Rameez Shahzad, Umair Ali, Abdul Bangalzai, Josh Little, Ross Whiteley, Blessing Muzarabani, Yo Mahesh, Binura Fernando, Ansh Tandon, Gareth Delany, Mark Watt

Delhi Bulls – Jason Roy (Marquee Player), Dwayne Bravo (c), Shiraz Ahmed, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sherfane Rutherford, Eoin Morgan, Rilee Rossouw, Adil Rashid, Ravi Rampaul, Romario Shepherd, Dominic Drakes, Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Sohaib Maqsood, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nyeem Young, Devon Thomas, Akeal Hosein, Jaskaran Malhotra, Gulbadin Naib

Team Abu Dhabi – Liam Livingstone (Marquee Player), Obaid McCoy, Rohan Mustafa, Jamie Overton, Naveen-ul-Haq, Chris Gayle, Paul Stirling, Colin Ingram, Marchant de Lange, Danny Briggs, Phil Salt, Muhammad Farazuddin, Fidel Edwards, Chris Benjamin, Ahmed Daniyal

Bangla Tigers – Faf du Plessis (Marquee Player & captain), Shahid Afridi, Johnson Charles, Chirag Suri, Isuru Udana, Andre Fletcher, Qais Ahmad, James Faulkner, Mohammad Amir, Hazratullah Zazai, Benny Howell, Sabir Rao, Will Jacks, Matheesha Pathirana, Hassan Khalid, Adam Lyth, Will Smeed, Luke Wood, Mohammad Saifuddin, Tom Hartley, Karim Janat, Vishnu Sukumaran

Deccan Gladiators – Andre Russel (Marquee Player), Zahoor Khan, Tymal Mills, Evin Lewis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Banton, Odean Smith, David Wiese, Sultan Ahmed, Rumman Raees, Nav Pabreja, Naveed Ahmad, Anwar Ali, Ryan Rickelton, Asif Khan, Hamid Hassan, Tom Moores, Wahab Riaz

Chennai Braves – Nicholas Pooran (Marquee Player), Chamika Karunaratne, Yusuf Pathan, Darren Bravo, Maheesh Theekshana, Mark Deyal, Munaf Patel, Curtis Campher, Migael Pretorius, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Tion Webster, Dasun Shanaka, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohammad Shahzad, Ravi Bopara, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Najibullah Zadran, Khalid Shah, Lakshman Manjrekar, Samiullah Shanwari, Angelo Perera, Toby Albert, Roman Walker, Muhammad Waseem, Fabian Allen, Junaid Siddique, Azam Khan, Mark Adair

The Abu Dhabi T10 League’s 5th edition is expected to be more successful than the previous four editions. The thrill and excitement of the shortest format of cricket will be brought to you live by Sky247.

Sky247 has had promising partnerships with some global cricket events, such as Abu Dhabi T10 powered by Sky247.net, Sky247.net Abu Dhabi ODI series, Emirates D-20, Pakistan vs South Africa T20Is and the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League in 2021.

After last year’s fruitful partnership, Sky247.net, as a dynamic and fast-growing global sports news portal will, once again, be part of the fastest growing T10 league. Abu Dhabi T10 League presented by Sky247.net will be a huge boost for our already growing brand, and we will be looking forward to a long and fruitful association with the Abu Dhabi T10 and a fantastic fifth season this year.

Written by Waqas Mustafa (Sky247 Team)