MI Emirates vs Dubai Capitals — Match 28 Preview

MI Emirates vs Dubai Capitals, Sunday, 13 December 2026 — Afternoon session in Abu Dhabi

Sunday 13 December 2026 carries two matches, and the first of them is MI Emirates against Dubai Capitals at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, in the afternoon session, in the 28th match of the DP World ILT20 Season 5. It is the only afternoon match of the final league weekend — and a meeting of the two most recent champions before the Vipers’ title.

MI Emirates will have played eight league matches before this one, with this as their tenth and final league game. Dubai Capitals will have played eight as well — including their Match 25 meeting with Gulf Giants on Thursday — with this as their ninth, and one more to come against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on Monday. Two points are on offer, and with the table still to be decided, both sides will know by the evening whether they need a win in their last game.

MI Emirates are captained by Nicholas Pooran, who led the 2024 champions. Dubai Capitals are captained by Faf du Plessis, who led the 2025 champions. The scorecard will be published on this page after the match.

Scorecard

Match yet to begin. The scorecard appears here once the match starts.

How both sides arrive in Abu Dhabi

The season opens on 21 November, so there is no form to compare yet — no wins, no defeats, no net run rate for either side. What the two teams bring into this match is their leadership, their coaching and their history in the tournament.

MI Emirates, coached by Mark Boucher, were runners-up in January, beaten by Desert Vipers in the 2025-26 final. Pooran captains a squad that pairs Jonny Bairstow and Muhammad Waseem at the top with Rashid Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi with the ball. The side won the title in 2024, lost the final in January, and this season is a chance to go one better than the runners-up finish.

Dubai Capitals, coached by Hemang Badani, won the title in 2025 and rebuilt around du Plessis, Phil Salt and a returning Marcus Stoinis. The Capitals’ run-in is the busiest of any side — three matches in five days, against Gulf Giants, MI Emirates and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders — so this afternoon in Abu Dhabi is the middle game of a week that will decide their seed.

The run-in and the race for the top four

The head-to-head is level at five wins each from ten meetings, and the final that MI Emirates won by 45 runs in February 2024 is the biggest match the two sides have played. What is at stake here is simpler: two points, and the seed that comes with them. The top two meet in Qualifier 1 on 16 December, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser getting a second chance in Qualifier 2. The third and fourth seeds play the Eliminator on 17 December, and the loser goes home.

For MI Emirates, this is the last league match: win here, and they finish on their best possible total; lose, and they finish on their earlier points alone and must hope the teams around them slip. For Dubai Capitals, this is the second of three matches in five days, and a win here would mean Monday’s final league match against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders could be played with the pressure already eased.

After this match, two league matches remain: Gulf Giants against Desert Vipers on Sunday evening, and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders against Dubai Capitals on Monday 14 December. Tuesday 15 December is a rest day before the playoffs begin on Wednesday 16 December.

The players who can decide it

Each name below is linked to that player’s profile. No Season 5 statistics exist yet, so the names here are the ones whose roles — opening the batting, taking the new ball, leading the side — will shape the match.

Nicholas Pooran captains MI Emirates and bats in the middle order, where his hitting against spin and pace alike makes him the side’s most dangerous batter. Jonny Bairstow opens the batting, and Muhammad Waseem gives the top order a UAE batter who knows these grounds. With the ball, Rashid Khan is the bowler every opposition plans around, and Fazalhaq Farooqi takes the new ball.

For Dubai Capitals, Faf du Plessis captains and opens, Phil Salt is the batter who can take the powerplay away from any attack, and Marcus Stoinis returns as the all-rounder who bats in the middle and bowls at the death. Rovman Powell adds power to the lower middle order, and Noor Ahmad leads the spin.

The afternoon start makes this match different from the evening games around it, and the side that reads the Abu Dhabi surface first — Rashid and Noor with the ball, Pooran and du Plessis with the bat — will have the early advantage.

MI Emirates against Capitals down the years

The two sides have met 10 times in the ILT20, and the head-to-head is level at 5 wins each.

The most recent meeting came in the 2025-26 season, on 27 December 2025, when Dubai Capitals won by 8 wickets. The meeting before that, on 17 December 2025, went MI Emirates’ way by 7 runs. The two sides have met in a final: in February 2024, MI Emirates beat Dubai Capitals by 45 runs to win the title, and in the Eliminator of the 2023 season, MI Emirates won by 8 wickets.

The closest finish between them was the opening match of the 2025 season, when Dubai Capitals won by 1 run. Across ten meetings, no side has ever won three in a row — the fixture has swung back and forth from the very first game.

Match information

Afternoon session — the exact start time is still to be announced. Match yet to begin — the scorecard will be posted here after the match.

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