ABU DHABI: 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.

The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders moved to third place on the points table with the win in Season 3 of DP World ILT20, 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 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.

The duo put on 41 runs together before Gous was caught behind for 27. That brought Sharafu to the middle, who along with Asalanka started to set up the platform for a big finish. Asalanka, who hit three boundaries and a six, scored 32 and was dismissed by Zahoor Khan in the 12th over. From then on in, Sharafu and Roston Chase took charge, with the Emirati cricketer starting to go through the gears. Sharafu played some exquisite shots, while Chase kept the momentum going as well.

They put on a 72-run partnership from 39 deliveries, after which Chase retired for 20, bringing in the dangerous Andre Russell for the final two overs. Russell started off with a big six but was castled on the next delivery. At the other end though, Sharafu brought up his half-century and had Holder for company. Sharafu continued his attack and finished with 55 to his name, while Holder added a quick 22 not out from seven deliveries, to help the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders reach 182/7 in their 20 overs.

The MI Emirates did not get the start they would have wanted as Kyle Mayers picked three quick wickets, including those of Kusal Perera for nine and Nicholas Pooran for one. From the other end, David Willey dismissed Tom Banton for one, and the MI Emirates were in trouble at 36/4 in the sixth over. Muhammad Waseem, who was the fourth to depart, had scored 19, and smashed three sixes during his stay.

Dan Mousley and Kieron Pollard now had their task cut out, and the duo dropped anchor to rebuild. The fifth wicket partnership gave the MI Emirates 33 more before Mousley gloved it to the keeper, and had to walk back for 17. Pollard by now had settled in well, and had Romario Shepherd for company.

Under pressure, Pollard started to up the ante and teed off in the 17th over, when he smashed a six and three boundaries, raising hopes of a comeback. Shepherd, though, could not hang in there and became Holder’s second wicket of the evening, which further piled on the pressure on the MI Emirates. Pollard meanwhile had completed his half-century.

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 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.”

MI Emirates’ captain Pooran said: “Losing four wickets in the powerplay was tough during the chase. They also had a good left-right combination going, they had a good partnership that pushed the game forward.”

 
Brief scores

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders beat MI Emirates by 42 runs

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 182/7 in 20 overs (Alishan Sharafu — 55, Charith Asalanka — 32, Jason Holder — 22 not out, Alzarri Joseph — 3 for 32, Fazalhaq Farooqi — 1 for 27)  

MI Emirates 140/6 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard — 69 not out, Muhammad Waseem — 19, Kyle Mayers — 3 for 25, Jason Holder — 2 for 28)

Player of the match: Alishan Sharafu

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida: The notorious tune “Du du du duh ... Max Verstappen ...” is likely loathed by every racing driver other than the reigning four-time Formula 1 champion.

But if many of those same drivers had their way, the Dutchman would be in Daytona this weekend racing the Rolex 24 and the song that honors his dominance would be blared throughout the infield during his driving stints.

The race that begins Saturday at Daytona International Speedway features 235 of the best drivers in the world representing 31 countries, and while that count includes former F1 drivers, none are currently active in the global series. Kevin Magnussen, who in December closed his 10-year F1 career for good, has the most recent series experience out of the 14 former F1 drivers entered.

He’s joined in Daytona by former Haas F1 teammates Romain Grosjean and Pietro Fittipaldi, Daniil Kvyat, Kamui Kobayashi, Felipe Nasr, Felipe Massa, Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Di Resta, Will Stevens, Brendon Hartley, Jack Aitken, Gianmaria Bruni and Pascal Wehrlein. Current F1 reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Frederik Vesti, and Ferrari development driver Arthur Leclerc are also entered.

The field, simply put, is stacked. But when Australian V8 Supercars champion and NASCAR Cup Series rookie Shane van Gisbergen was asked what driver is missing from the race, his answer was a single name: “Max.”

No one even had to ask which Max he was referring to as he echoed the sentiment of Ben Keating, a co-driver on van Gisbergen’s team.

“I’d like to see Max Verstappen come out here and play around with us,” Keating said.

Van Gisbergen said he’d been messaging with Verstappen during Rolex preparation and, “I think he’d be good here.”

Verstappen drove an Acura sports car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in November ahead of the F1 race there, and has previously indicated he’d someday like to move to endurance racing. He’s an avid SIM racer and the live streams of his sessions draw hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Magnussen predicted Verstappen will eventually make his way to Daytona, in part because “I don’t see him continuing 10 years in F1.”

“He’s a proper racer, so he would do Daytona. Based on all the SIM racing he does and he already has a GT team,” Magnussen added.

Verstappen has previously said his family is planning to form a two-car GT3 team that could compete in series like the GT World Challenge (GTWC) and the idea came from his SIM racing, from 2025 onwards.

“The first step is our own GT3 team and then we’ll see where we end up,” Verstappen previously told Dutch magazine Formule 1. “It would be nice to be able to grow to the highest level in endurance racing.”