Liam Livingstone lit up the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on the opening night of DP World ILT20 Season 4, smashing an unbeaten 82 off just 38 balls to hand the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders a dominant 39-run win over the Sharjah Warriorz.

His late-innings carnage lifted ADKR to a massive 233/4, the second-highest total in ILT20 history. And the highlight? A jaw-dropping final over where Livingstone launched five sixes, including four in a row, taking 33 off Dwayne Pretorius.

Before he exploded at the death, Livingstone found solid support. Sherfane Rutherford (45 off 27) kept the middle overs ticking, while Alex Hales (32) and Alishan Sharafu (34) gave ADKR the perfect platform. Adil Rashid was the lone bowler who kept things somewhat under control for the Warriorz with 2/31.

The chase, however, never quite got going for Sharjah. Three early wickets, Johnson Charles, Tom Abell and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, left them reeling at 56/3 inside seven overs.

Tim David briefly shifted the momentum with a spectacular 60 off 24 balls, blasting Piyush Chawla for three sixes in one over and reaching fifty in just 21 deliveries. But once Ajay Kumar removed him for 120/6, the asking rate ballooned to nearly 20 an over.

Pretorius (39 off 20) and Rashid (25 off 11) swung hard late on, including a 25-run over off Andre Russell, but the Warriorz finished well short at 194/9.

Earlier, the Knight Riders had gotten off to a lively start thanks to Michael Pepper’s early boundaries and a 51-run stand between Hales and Sharafu, before Rashid’s double strike slowed things briefly.

But the Livingstone–Rutherford 95-run partnership put the innings firmly back on track, setting up a finish that electrified the Sharjah crowd.

Livingstone was named Player of the Match for his match-winning blitz.