Liam Livingstone turns on beast mode after RCB release, slams 33 runs in an over as Dinesh Karthik watches on
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English all-rounder Liam Livingstone turned his beast mode on during the second match of the International League T20 between Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Sharjah Warriors, as he took 33 runs off a single Dwaine Pretorius over.
The ILT20, that is, the International League T20 hosted in Abu Dhabi, is back, and this time it's bigger, with several players of Indian origin who had registered for the first time. The likes of Dinesh Karthik and Piyush Chawla made their debut in the ILT20 tournament.
The second match marked a thrilling encounter between Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Sharjah Warriors. The Knight Riders are led by their franchise's face across any tournament in the world, Sunil Narine, while the Warriors have named Tim Southee as their skipper. Southee left his England bowling consultant role midway through the Ashes to play the tournament.
Liam Livingstone, you beauty!! Andre Russell was left awestruck by the English all-rounder's fearless striking
The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders had a fine start to their innings, as Alex Hales handed them a comprehensive start. Following their dismissal, Liam Livingstone and Sherfane Rutherford took control of the innings. Despite Adil Rashid's early wickets, runs never stopped coming for the Knights.
Livingstone targeted one over from Dwaine Pretorius, who looked an economical bowler until then. Starting with a wide, Liam Livingstone deposited the second ball for a six, a double on the next ball and then hit the remaining balls in the over out of the park.
Andre Russell, who stood on the other end, was left amazed and with all smiles as Liam Livingstone took control of the innings. A 33-run over is huge at any juncture of the game, as it completely drives the momentum to your end.
LIAM LIVINGSTONE UNLEASHING - 33 RUNS FROM AN OVER. 🤯pic.twitter.com/d9Z7b40EhT
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 3, 2025
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders start on a high note with Livingstone's dominance
After being pushed into batting, Alex Hales handed the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders a very convincing start and was backed by the subtle innings from Alishan Sharafu. However, the innings gained momentum when England batter Liam Livingstone paired up with West Indies batsman Sherfane Rutherford.
Livingstone and Rutherford's right-hand-left-hand combination took advantage as the Knight Riders hurried along the middle overs and in the death as well. Rutherford played a handy 45-run innings off just 27 balls, and Livingstone finished on 82* off just 38 balls, with 8 sixes in his innings.
Knight Riders posted a target of 234 runs in front of the Warriors, and despite all that firepower in the Sharjah Warriors lineup, they succumbed to the pressure of such a huge target.
Despite Tim David's early carnage, the Warriors fall well short of the target
Johnson Charles, the big West Indian hitter, opened the innings with Englishmen around him in the batting order. However, not having made a solid start, the pressure was stacked upon the others with the increasing run rate.
Tim David, the big Australian who smashed a 98 in a 10-over match earlier this week, once again stole the show with a 24-ball 60. Pretorius, who had given away so many runs, further looked to dominate with some hitting, and Adil Rashid also played a slight cameo.
Despite all of these, they fell short by 39 runs, as the likes of Sikander Raza and debutant Dinesh Karthik could not manifest anything special with the bat. The Sunil Narine-led team sits at the top of the points table with a NRR of 1.950.
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International T20 League (ILT20) Abu Dhabi Knight Riders Sharjah Warriors Liam Livingstone Andre Russell Dwaine PretoriusAbout the Author
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