More than a third of the league stage of the ILT20 2025 is done, and each team has played four games. While it’s still too early to say with certainty that any team has definitely made it to the playoffs or is definitely out of the running, the first week of the tournament has provided some interesting trends. Desert Vipers have zoomed ahead of the competition, winning all their four matches. No other team has more than two wins. For the other five sides though, the competition is fierce, since each are sitting at either one win or two, and a run of form for anyone can catapult them to the top two in the points table.
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Here are the best performers and performances in the third edition of the ILT20 so far:
Best Team: Desert Vipers
There are different contenders for other categories, but the Vipers had no competition for best team. From the make-up of their squad, it was clear that the Vipers would be a bowling-driven team, and that’s exactly what they’ve been so far. The bowling has been irresistible as a group, and the Vipers are on track to prove the old truism of T20 leagues: that batting wins you games while bowling wins you tournaments. Together, captain Lockie Ferguson alongside Wanindu Hasaranga and Mohammad Amir, have taken 14 of the 23 wickets that the Vipers’ bowlers have so far. This is despite all of those three missing a game each. But it’s not like the batting hasn’t stood up either, which is why the Vipers are flying high. They’ve had four different batters make half-centuries in Sam Curran, Daniel Lawrence, Alex Hales and Fakhar Zaman. A fifth – Sherfane Rutherford – hasn’t been dismissed yet in four innings and is striking at 233.33. The bowlers ensured the batters didn’t have too much to chase, and the one time they batted first, they piled up 193 for 5.

Best Batter: Shai Hope, Tom Banton or Nicholas Pooran?
Shai Hope and Tom Banton have a lot more runs than Nicholas Pooran – 205 and 198 to 135 – but Pooran’s impact has elevated him to their level. Hope and Banton have hit a century each, and both have passed 70 on another occasion. Both have also had two fairly below-par knocks, so it’s been an opening week of fairly big swings for them. Hope began with a scratchy 9 off 17 in the opening game in which Banton had a run-a-ball 7. In that match, Pooran came in at 17 for 3 in four overs, saw it become 23 for 4 in 4.4 – and still hit 61 off 40 to almost single-handedly carry MI Emirates to victory over Dubai Capitals. In their return fixture, although Banton got more runs than Pooran, his 74 off 52 had the cushion of pacing because Pooran lit up the middle with a brutal 59 off 29. It was Pooran’s fiery pace that allowed Banton to work through his batting till he was set and could then up his scoring. That was a game for batting heights, with Hope hitting 101 off 59 in a losing effort. Pooran wasn’t needed to bat in his team’s last game so he’s had one innings less than the other two, but the impact in his two 50-plus scores has been higher than the greater number of runs that Hope and Banton have scored in their 50-plus scores. So for now, it’s a tie between the three.
Best Bowler: Fazalhaq Farooqi
He’s currently the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 11 scalps, and has conceded runs at just 6.37 per over despite bowling several tough overs. He began with a wonderful showing of 5 for 16 for MI Emirates against Dubai Capitals, but his batters let him down in that game. The only below-par outing he’s had so far has been against the table-topping Vipers, when he ran into Zaman and Rutherford in full flow. In his most recent outing, he took an astonishing 4 for 24, even as Sharjah Warriorz piled up 176 for 9, ensuring that they couldn’t run away to a match-winning total, and keeping it within reach of his batters. It’s a wonder that MI Emirates aren’t top of the table while having the likes of Banton, Pooran and Farooqi firing so well, but it could bode well for them for the rest of the tournament.

What to look for in the coming week:
The points table is delicately poised, and every team has a chance to qualify for the playoffs. With a host of match-winners packed into each side, a run of victories is possible for each side. Desert Vipers have pulled away from the pack for now, but the nature of T20 cricket is such that they will need a few more wins to feel comfortable. Among the rest, MI Emirates have the best net run-rate, but with more than half the tournament remaining, equations could change radically.
(This story is authored by Saurabh Somani who is a Pondicherry-based freelance cricket writer. In his spare time, he watches the game anyway.)