The playoffs stage of the third season of the DP World ILT20 begins in Dubai on Wednesday, with table-toppers Desert Vipers playing second-placed Dubai Capitals. The winner of this match will proceed to Sunday’s final, while the losing team will get another chance by contesting the second Qualifier later this week in Sharjah. 

On Thursday, defending champions Mumbai Emirates will face Sharjah Warriors in the Eliminator in Abu Dhabi. Whoever loses will be out of the tournament, and the winner will then play Qualifier 2. 

Led on rotation by New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson and England allrounder Sam Curran, the Vipers are top of the ILT20 points table with six wins from ten games. They began strongly by winning four in a row, then suffered a slight blip – which included two tournament lows in a record 154-run defeat and a total of 74 – but one more win was enough for Vipers to secure top spot. They enter the playoffs after losing their last league match, to the team they will meet in Qualifier 1.

Dubai Capitals won that match by nine wickets, with the only two batsmen to have contributed heavily this season scoring unbeaten half-centuries. West Indian Shai Hope is the league’s leading run-getter this year with 467 at an average of 66.71, while his team-mate Naib has made 314 while striking at 158. Both have been Capitals’ form batsmen by a mile, with the next best contributor being Dasun Shanaka with 137. 

Subtract Hope and Naib, and Capitals would not have made it to the playoffs. The team’s bowling, however, has shared the wickets more evenly. Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera has 12 wickets at 20.33 apiece followed by Obed McCoy with 10, Naib with nine at 18.66 and Sikandar Raza with six (economy 7.10).

By comparison, their opponents in Qualifier 1 have had more evenly distributed success. Former England opener Alex Hales leads their rub chart with 286 at a strike-rate of 125, followed by Curran who has made 267 while striking at 121 from the middle order. Fakhar Zaman, though inconsistent, has 222 runs with two fifties and Dan Lawrence has made 208.

With the ball, Wanindu Hasaranga and Mohammad Aamir have 11 wickets each. Hasaranga has regularly applied the choke during the middle overs, as a terrific economy of 5.33 underlines, whereas Amir has been successful upfront and at the death, barring a couple of expensive outings. Ferguson has done well with nine wickets and an economy of seven, Curran’s medium pace has fetched him six wickets and Khuzaima Tanveer has five. 

Even though the Capitals have beaten the Vipers both times this season, qualifier 1 is looking to be a fiercely competitive match given the all-round depth that Curran’s team has. The main threat to the Vipers are Hope and Naib, given their prolific run-scoring this ILT20 season. 

Desert Vipers likely playing team: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Alax Hales (Impact Sub), 3 Max Holden, 5 Dan Lawrence, 6 Sam Curran (capt), 7 Azam Khan (wk), 8 Sherfane Rutherford, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Khuzaima Tanveer, 11 Lockie Ferguson, 12 Mohammad Amir

Dubai Capitals likely playing 11: 1 Adam Rossington (Impact Sub), 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Gulbadin Naid, 5 Sam Billings (capt), 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Rovman Powell, 8 Dushmantha Chameera, 9 Haider Ali, 10 Farhan Khan, 11 Obed McCoy, 12 Qais Ahmad