Batting tracks in UAE makes cricket exciting: Virender Sehwag ahead of ILT20 season 3 finale

The winner of this match will take on Dubai Capitals in the final on Sunday, 9th February to be played at the Dubai International Stadium. Emphasizing the wickets here in UAE that are tailor-made for scoring big runs, Sehwag said as quoted by ILT20 press release, "UAE stadiums have some of the best batting tracks. Though I didn't have the opportunity to play a lot here, I did play a couple of games for India and during the Indian Premier League (IPL), and I absolutely enjoyed batting here in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi."

"Hopefully the next two games (Qualifier 2 and Final) will be a cracker. The match between Dubai Capitals and Desert Vipers went down to the last ball, and I am sure the next two games will be thrilling contests too." Having been part of the ILT20 as a commentator since its inception, Sehwag highlighted the growth of this league and factors that make it one of the top cricket leagues in the world.

"I think the ILT20 is one of the best leagues. Like IPL is good for the development of Indian cricket, similarly, ILT20 is good for UAE players and the Middle East. But the good part is that you can't see nine international players playing in one team in any other league."

He further added, "This is the third year for me in ILT20 as a commentator. And I'm seeing that a lot of good international players are coming and playing this league, which is benefitting UAE's youngsters. They're getting good experience with international players. And this year, if you look at all the matches, they have been very close and very interesting and there were a lot of games that saw 200-plus runs being scored too."

On being asked if there was any batter he would love to have a partnership with here in the ILT20, Sehwag named Australia's David Warner, who scored a blistering 93 unbeaten against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to put the Dubai Capitals in the play-offs.

When asked if he would like to see Indian players in this league, he said, "I would love to see Indian players here. If any Indian player who has just retired from International cricket or IPL and if they want to play, like Dinesh Karthik is playing right now, it would be great. I would love to see Indian cricketers play here and if there was one player I would have particularly liked to watch here is the sixer-man Yuvraj Singh," he said.