# 2023 Abu Dhabi Knight Riders season

The 2023 edition is the inaugural season for the International League T20 franchise Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. They are one of the six teams competing in the 2023 International League T20.

## Background

In August 2022, the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) announced the establishment of the International League T20, a Twenty20 Cricket competition to be started in 2023. The teams for the competition, representing 6 different cities of United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi, were put up on auction in UAE in September 2022. The Abu Dhabi franchise was purchased & revealed by Kolkata Knight Riders, part of Knight Riders Franchise. The team unveiled their logo and jersey in January 2023, through their social media handles.

## Points table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
| 1 | Gulf Giants (C) | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 1.258 |
| 2 | Desert Vipers (R) | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0.399 |
| 3 | MI Emirates | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1.059 |
| 4 | Dubai Capitals | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 9 | −0.386 |
| 5 | Sharjah Warriors | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 7 | −0.522 |
| 6 | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders | 10 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | −1.784 |
* The top 4 teams qualified for the playoffs.
* Advanced to Qualifier 1
* Advanced to Eliminator

## Squad

| Batters | Wicket-keepers | All rounders | Pacers | Spinners |
| Paul Stirling Charith Asalanka Colin Ingram Brandon King Kennar Lewis Connor Esterhuizen | Jonny Bairstow Joe Clarke | Sunil Narine (c) Andre Russell Akeal Hosein Seekkuge Prasanna Raymon Reifer Dhananjaya de Silva | Lahiru Kumara Ravi Rampaul Ali Khan Brandon Glover Matiullah Khan Marchant de Lange | Fahad Nawaz Sabir Ali Zawar Farid Traveen Mathew |
| Source: ESPNcricinfo ||||||

## Fixtures

* Match 1 13 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Dubai Capitals 187/6 (20 overs) | v | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 114/9 (20 overs) |
| Rovman Powell 48 (29) Ravi Rampaul 2/36 (4 overs) | | Paul Stirling 54 (38) Rovman Powell 2/15 (2 overs) |
* Dubai Capitals won by 73 runs. Dubai International Cricket Stadium , Dubai Umpires: Simon Taufel (Aus) and Rod Tucker (Aus) Player of the match: Rovman Powell (Dubai Capitals)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 3 15 January 2023 14:00 Scorecard
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 114/9 (20 overs) | v | Gulf Giants 115/4 (14.2 overs) |
| Andre Russell 26 (12) Sanchit Sharma 3/9 (3 overs) | | James Vince 65 (44) Sunil Narine 2/21 (4 overs) |
* Gulf Giants won by 6 wickets Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL) and Martin Saggers (Eng) Player of the match: Sanchit Sharma (Gulf Giants)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 7 18 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 133/8 (20 overs) | v | Desert Vipers 135/3 (15.4 overs) |
| Brandon King 57 (44) Wanindu Hasaranga 3/18 (4 overs) | | Alex Hales 64 (47) Akeal Hosein 1/24 (4 overs) |
* Desert Vipers won by 7 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium , Dubai Umpires: Shiju Sam (UAE) and Rod Tucker (Aus) Player of the match: Wanindu Hasaranga (Desert Vipers)
* Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 9 20 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Desert Vipers 219/4 (20 overs) | v | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 108 (15.1 overs) |
| Alex Hales 110 (59) Lahiru Kumara 2/31 (4 overs) | | Andre Russell 57 (29) Sheldon Cottrell 3/13 (4 overs) |
* Desert Vipers won by 111 runs. Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Leslie Reifer (WI) and Alex Wharf (Eng) Player of the match: Alex Hales (Desert Vipers)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 11 21 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 170/7 (20 overs) | v | MI Emirates 176/5 (20 overs) |
| Dhananjaya de Silva 65 (40) Fazalhaq Farooqi 2/27 (4 overs) | | Andre Fletcher 53 (43) Lahiru Kumara 2/34 (4 overs) |
* MI Emirates won by 5 wickets. Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Shiju Sam (UAE) and Alex Wharf (Eng) Player of the match: Najibullah Zadran (MI Emirates)
* MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 16 25 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Gulf Giants | v | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders |
* Match Abandoned. Dubai International Cricket Stadium , Dubai Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (Eng) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* No play was possible due to rain.
* Match 19 28 January 2023 13:00 Scorecard
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 149/4 (20 overs) | v | Sharjah Warriors 150/6 (17 overs) |
| Paul Stirling 55 (50) Paul Walter 2/29 (4 overs) | | Rahmanullah Gurbaz 56 (39) Lahiru Kumara 3/36 (4 overs) |
* Sharjah Warriors won by 4 wickets. Sharjah Cricket Stadium , Sharjah Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (Eng) and Leslie Reifer (WI) Player of the match: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Sharjah Warriors)
* Sharjah Warriors won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 22 30 January 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 149/9 (20 overs) | v | Dubai Capitals 150/3 (17.4 overs) |
| Joe Clarke 52 (27) Adam Zampa 3/16 (4 overs) | | George Munsey 57 (43) Akeal Hosein 1/21 (3.4 overs) |
* Dubai Capitals won by 7 wickets Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (Eng) and Leslie Reifer (WI) Player of the match: Adam Zampa (Dubai Capitals)
* Dubai Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 26 3 February 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| MI Emirates 180/4 (20 overs) | v | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 162 (19.2 overs) |
| Muhammad Waseem 60 (43) Sabir Ali 1/21 (2 overs) | | Andre Russell 42 (22) Dwayne Bravo 3/37 (4 overs) |
* MI Emirates won by 18 runs. Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Akbar Ali (UAE) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL) Player of the match: Kieron Pollard (MI Emirates)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 28 4 February 2023 18:00 (N) Scorecard
| Sharjah Warriors 130/9 (20 overs) | v | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 133/5 (16.4 overs) |
| Tom Kohler-Cadmore 46 (40) Matiullah Khan 2/24 (3 overs) | | Joe Clarke 54 (32) Muhammad Jawadullah 3/24 (4 overs) |
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won by 5 wickets. Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL) and Rod Tucker (Aus) Player of the match: Joe Clarke (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders)
* Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| Runs | Player | Inns | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s |
| 196 | Andre Russell | 9 | 57 | 21.78 | 151.94 | - | 1 | 15 | 14 |
| 168 | Paul Stirling | 6 | 55 | 28.00 | 109.80 | - | 2 | 15 | 5 |
| 135 | Joe Clarke | 4 | 54 | 33.75 | 158.82 | - | 2 | 19 | 4 |
| 128 | Brandon King | 9 | 57 | 16.00 | 107.56 | - | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| 107 | Dhananjaya de Silva | 5 | 65 | 21.40 | 122.99 | - | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| Last updated: 4 February 2023, Source: ESPNcricinfo |||||||||

### Most wickets

| Wkts. | Player | Inns | Ov | Runs | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR | 4W | 5W |
| 8 | Lahiru Kumara | 5 | 18.0 | 169 | 3/36 | 21.13 | 9.39 | 13.50 | - | - |
| 7 | Sunil Narine | 9 | 36.0 | 237 | 3/24 | 33.86 | 6.58 | 30.86 | - | - |
| 7 | Akeal Hosein | 9 | 35.0 | 262 | 2/22 | 37.43 | 7.49 | 30.00 | - | - |
| 5 | Andre Russell | 8 | 24.4 | 270 | 3/25 | 54.00 | 10.95 | 29.60 | - | - |
| 3 | Ravi Rampaul | 2 | 7.0 | 63 | 4/33 | 21.00 | 9.00 | 14.00 | - | - |
| Last updated: 4 February 2023, Source: ESPNcricinfo |||||||||||