ILT20 final: Venom between Dubai Capitals and Desert Vipers is just what competition needs

Yes, the fireworks were nice. The half-time show was decent. And the troupe of school kids dancing ahead of the start continues to warm the heart. But the moment the DP World International League T20 truly arrived was just after Dubai Capitals had sealed the title on Sunday night, when some players from the opposing teams had to be separated. It was spiteful and nasty, the sort of confrontation that needed quick and robust mediation. It had been lingering all evening, maybe even before. The two best sides in the competition are full of players who have been teammates elsewhere. Yet they don’t seem to like each other very much. The first sign was when Sam Curran, the Desert Vipers stand-in captain, was putting together a late innings charge to try to give his side something to defend. He laced a drive down the ground, which Gulbadin Naib, the bowler, misfielded as he showily made to run out the batter. In response, Curran flexed his biceps on both arms, mocking Gulbadin’s customary wicket celebration. When the sides turned around, the animosity became even more prevalent. Gulbadin was dismissed in the third over, and Mohammed Amir, the bowler, flexed his biceps, too. Gulbadin reviewed the decision, and Curran stood in his proximity, waiting to let him know his thoughts. When the decision was upheld, Curran promptly sent the Afghan on his way with some choice words. Next up was Sam Billings, the Dubai Capitals captain. He was bounced out by Amir, who charged through in his follow through and let Billings know just how chuffed he was. Maybe it was just the spur of the moment, as the Vipers were giving themselves a chance of doing the improbable: defending a target in a 6pm T20 fixture in Dubai. Or maybe there was something more to it. Billings had played for the Vipers in the first season of ILT20 back in 2023. He was then cut as the franchise shipped in Azam Khan to keep wicket instead. There was a point in the Vipers innings when Billings attempted a direct hit run out when Azam was taking a single. Billings was fielding on the boundary at the time, yet he still came very close to achieving it. The day before the final, the pre-match captain’s formalities had been delayed when Billings arrived late having apparently headed off for a haircut first. The Vipers contingent were not in the best humour about that, even if their representative, Lockie Ferguson, was not involved in the final anyway as he was nursing a hamstring strain. Whatever it was down to, there was proper venom there. After Sikandar Raza won the trophy for the Capitals with a late-night boundary blitz, the post-match handshakes briefly threatened to become a royal rumble. Those with cooler heads won out, and the umpires also stood between the angry combatants, but there was genuine hostility there. All of which is brilliant to see. Just not cricket? Hardly. It was the passion of the performers which made the cricket the centre piece of the night. The organisers did a fine job of putting on an event that would entertain the huge crowd, no matter what fare they were served on the field. The pyrotechnics were superb. Music – including a half-time show – was frequent and on point, and not the sort of organised fun that too often prevails in franchise cricket. But there is only so much of a frenzy into which spectators can be whipped. They need to believe in the action they are there to watch, too. With all the spite that was flying around, it showed these players do actually care. The ILT20 has been derided as being just another vacuous money pit in a cricket world increasingly full of them. Wallpaper, they call it. Another event going on somewhere that you don’t really notice, but it’s just there. Clearly, these teams are "spurious fabrications", but both the winning captain (the elated Billings) and the losing one (the crestfallen Curran) said they felt like they were part of a family with their respective franchises. Those are easy words to say, and so much talk at the ILT20 – especially related to the opportunities given the UAE players – is cheap and superficial. But it was also fully believable that they would feel that way about their respective teams. The Capitals and the Vipers have both been to two finals each now, in the first three seasons of the UAE’s franchise competition. It seems apparent they are the best run of the teams, and not just because of on-field success. The two sides have done the most off the field, too, in terms of bringing supporters to games. The squads also seem well put together. The league rules over retention and direct negotiation – rather than draft or auction processes – mean players can build an affinity with each other, and fans know who the main stars are in each team. And the evidence of that heated final suggests some tribalism is starting to foment, too, which is a very good thing for the league.

ILT20 final: Venom between Dubai Capitals and Desert Vipers is just what competition needs

Showpiece fixture was pleasingly bad-tempered as it proves players care about a tournament that has been derided as ‘wallpaper’