Livingstone carnage powers Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to winning start

Twelve days ahead of the IPL auction, Liam Livingstone smashed an unbeaten 82 off 38 balls, including eight sixes, to power Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to a commanding 39-run win over Sharjah Warriorz in their ILT20 season opener.

The Knight Riders posted 233/4, built on Livingstone's knock and contributions from Alex Hales (32 off 19), Alishan Sharafu (34 off 23), and Sherfane Rutherford (45 off 27). Tim David carried his form from the Abu Dhabi T10 to smash a 24-ball 60, including seven sixes, but finished on the losing side as the Warriorz fell short.

Knight Riders started strongly with Hales and Sharafu, reaching 58/1 in the PowerPlay. Adil Rashid dismissed both by the 10th over, but that brought together Livingstone and Rutherford. The pair added 95 off just 49 deliveries, hitting at least one six in each over from the 11th to the 15th. Livingstone then smashed five sixes in a 33-run final over from Dwaine Pretorius.

Sharjah's chase began poorly, losing Johnson Charles, Tom Abell, and Tom Kohler-Cadmore by the seventh over with only 56 runs on the board. David took charge, launching sixes at will, including three successive ones off Piyush Chawla en route to a 21-ball half-century.

However, batters around him kept falling, with Sikandar Raza and Dinesh Karthik dismissed for single-digit scores in the 11th and 12th overs before David holed out in the 13th. Pretorius (39 off 20) and Rashid (25 off 11) provided late resistance, but it wasn't enough. Left-arm pacer Ajay Kumar, who dismissed David, finished with figures of 1-22.

Brief Scores:
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 233/4 in 20 overs (Liam Livingstone 82*, Sherfane Rutherford 45; Adil Rashid 2-31) beat Sharjah Warriorz 194/9 in 20 overs (Tim David 60, Dwayne Pretorius 39; George Garton 2-24, Olly Stone 2-37, Andre Russell 2-48) by 39 runs.