Six years after the Indian Premier League was first played in the UAE due to the 2014 General Elections, the T20 cricket tournament is returning to the country for its 13th edition, scheduled to start on 19 September.
This year round, it’s the COVID-19 pandemic that forced organisers to first postpone the tournament, and then move it out of India, which has been the worst-hit nation in the world.
The last time that the IPL was held in the UAE:
- Zaheer Khan, Michael Hussey, and Pravin Tambe were playing and not coaching
- Yuzvendra Chahal and Karun Nair were uncapped, and hadn’t played for India yet
- Kevin Pietersen was the captain of a team, not commentating
But what remains the same this season as in 2014, are the venues of the matches – Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Let’s take a look at which cricketers performed at these venues, and which did not, which teams stood out and which failed to impress.
IPL 2014 Matches Played in the UAE
The first 20 matches of IPL 7 were played in the UAE, with each franchise playing five matches each. Kings XI Punjab won all five of their matches while Mumbai Indians failed to win even one.
KXIP topped the points table that season with 11 wins in 14 matches but lost the final to Kolkata Knight Riders by 3 wickets.
Most Runs Scored in IPL Matches Played in the UAE
Glenn Maxwell scored 300 runs in five innings – the most by any cricketer in the 2014 IPL matches held in the UAE. His team, Kings XI Punjab, reached the final but the Aussie batsman was not the top run-getter of the season. With 552 runs in 16 games, he finished behind Robin Uthappa (600 runs for KKR) and Dwayne Smith (566 runs for CSK).
Maxwell will also be donning the KXIP jersey this season after the KL Rahul-led franchise bought him for a whopping Rs 10.75 crore at this season’s auction.
Highest Scores in IPL Matches Played in the UAE
The highest scorer in the UAE-leg of IPL 2014 was also Glenn Maxwell. In fact, the 31-year-old registered the top three highest scores in the first 20 games of the edition. He posted 95 in the matches against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad and. an 89 against Rajasthan Royals.
Virender Sehwag (KXIP), Wriddhiman Saha (KXIP) and Lendl Simmons (MI) went on to score a century each that season with Sehwag hitting the highest score – 122 off 58 balls against CSK in Qualifier 2 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Highest Wicket-Taker in IPL Matches Played in the UAE
West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine was the highest wicket-taker in the IPL matches played in the UAE. The spinner picked up nine scalps in five games, and finished the season with 21 wickets in 16 matches – second only to Mohit Sharma who picked up 23 wickets in the same number of games.
Narine has been part of the KKR set-up since 2012. Though he was forced to miss the last three CPL matches due to a kidney stone-removal surgery, he is expected to be a part of KKR’s XI in their opening match.
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