# Gulf Giants

The Gulf Giants is a professional franchise cricket team that participates in the DP World International League T20. It was one of the six teams that were announced for the inaugural season of the tournament. Founded in 2022, the team is owned by the sports arm of India’s leading business conglomerate Adani Group, which also owns Gujarat Giants in the PKL and Gujarat Giants in the WPL.
The Gulf Giants became the inaugural champions of the ILT20 after they beat Desert Vipers by 7 wickets in the final at the Dubai International Stadium. The Giants are captained by English batter, James Vince, while Andy Flower serves as the head coach.
The Gulf Giants retained most of their core team ahead of the second season of the ILT20, and added other T20 stars such as Jamie Smith, Jordan Cox, and Usman Khan to their roster. They qualified for the Playoffs but were unable to reach the final.

## History

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 regions of the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai, were put up for auction in UAE in September 2022. The Gulf franchise was purchased by Adani Sportsline, led by Adani Group. The team unveiled their logo and jersey in January 2023 through their social media handles.
In January 2023, Gulf Giants released their anthem ‘Bring It On’, composed and performed by the popular Bollywood composer Salim-Sulaiman.

### 2024 Season

The Gulf Giants started their second season strongly by defeating the Sharjah Warriors by 31 runs. Jamie Smith scored 42 runs off 18 balls. Contributions from Usman Khan and Jordan Cox helped Gulf Giants post 198. Jamie Overton then starred with a 3-wicket haul as the Giants got their season off to a winning start.
Overton scored 41 in18 balls against the MI Emirates in the Giants’ second game during the run chase but it was not enough to chase the score set by the MI Emirates.
Chris Lynn then scored 67 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, but the Knight Riders managed to chase down the total. After the loss against the Vipers in their next game, the Gulf Giants went on a 4-match winning streak. Shimron Hetmyer’s innings of 53 helped the Giants put up a score of 187. Zuhaib Zubair took 4 wickets for 22 runs and Giants picked up a crucial win.
They faced MI Emirates in Qualifier 1, where they were defeated by 45 runs. The Giants faced the Dubai Capitals in Qualifier 2, where James Vince scored a fifty. The Giants scored 138 runs in their 20 overs, which was not enough as the Dubai Capitals chased down the score in 15.5 overs.
Vince was the highest run-scorer in the tournament, scoring 356 runs, while Zuhaib Zubair was the highest wicket-taker for the Giants, with 11 wickets.

### 2023 season

Gulf Giants began their season with a match-up against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. Thanks to Sanchit Sharma's spell of 3/9 and Chris Jordan's 3/28, Giants were able to restrict Knight Riders to a low total of 114/9 in their 20 overs. Giants were able to chase down this target in 14.2 overs, with James Vince scoring the first half-century for the team. He finished with 62(44).
They played their second match against Dubai Capitals, which they won by 6 wickets. Rehan Ahmed scalped three wickets and Vince top-scored with his knock of 83*(56). Giants went on to win their next two matches, until their winning streak was broken by Sharjah Warriors, who defeated them by 21 runs. This was the only match that Giants lost in the league stage.
Their next two league matches were abandoned due to rain. They won their eighth match against MI Emirates, with this win they qualified into the play-offs with still two matches to spare. Giants moved on to win their last two league matches, where David Wiese took the best bowling figures against Sharjah Warriors, his figures read 5/20 in his quota of 4 overs. Giants finished the league stage by topping the table with 16 points from 7 wins in 10 matches.
In the play-offs, Giants faced Desert Vipers in the Qualifier-1. Vipers defeated Giants by 19 runs to qualify for the final, and the Giants had to play Qualifier-2 in order to play in the final. They were matched up against MI Emirates in the Qualifier-2, courtesy Vince's brilliant knock of 83*(56), they won the match by 4 wickets. They faced Vipers in the final at the Dubai International Stadium, Vipers posted a total of 146/8 with Wanindu Hasaranga scoring a quickfire 55 off 27 balls and Carlos Brathwaite finished with figures 3/19, he scalped the wickets of Alex Hales, Sam Billings and Tom Curran, Qais Ahmad restricted the Vipers by taking the wicket of in form Hasaranga. In the second innings, Chris Lynn smashed an unbeaten 72 off 50 deliveries to help the team win the match and the tournament. Brathwaite was adjudged the player of the match in the final, Chris Jordan ended up winning the green belt for taking most wickets (20) in the tournament, and Vince finished the season as the second highest run-scorer with 439 runs in 11 matches.

## Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
* Retained players for Season 3 are in the below list
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||
| James Vince | England | (1991-03-14) 14 March 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2023 | Captain |
| Shimron Hetmyer | West Indies | (1996-12-26) 26 December 1996 (age 28) | Left-handed | Right-arm off-spin | 2023 | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| Aayan Afzal Khan | United Arab Emirates | (2005-11-15) 15 November 2005 (age 19) | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2023 | |
| Gerhard Erasmus | Namibia | (1995-04-11) 11 April 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | 2023 | |
| Dipendra Singh Airee | Nepal | (2000-01-24) 24 January 2000 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2024 | |
| Jamie Overton | England | (1994-04-10) 10 April 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2023 | |
| Rehan Ahmed | England | (2004-08-13) 13 August 2004 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2023 | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| Jordan Cox | England | (2000-10-21) 21 October 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2024 | |
| Jamie Smith | England | (2000-07-12) 12 July 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | – | 2024 | |
| Spin bowlers |||||||
| Zuhaib Zubair | United Arab Emirates | 31 December 2003 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2023 | |
| Pace bowlers |||||||
| Chris Jordan | England | (1988-10-04) 4 October 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2023 | |
| Richard Gleeson | England | (1987-12-02) 2 December 1987 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2023 | |
| Blessing Muzarabani | Zimbabwe | 2 October 1996 (age 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2024 | |

## Statistics
### Season summary

| Year | Played | Wins | Losses | Tied/NR |
| 2022-23 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| 2024 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Source: ESPNCricinfo |||||
Note:
* NR indicates No result.
* Abandoned matches are indicated as no result.

### Seasons

| Year | League standing | Final standing |
| 2023 | 1st out of 6 | Champion |
| 2024 | 2nd out of 6 | 3rd |

## Administration and support staff

| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Andy Flower |
| Bowling coach | Ottis Gibson |
| Fielding coach | Richard Halsall |
| Strength & conditioning coach | Gary Brent |

## Statistics and records
### Most runs

| Name | Matches | Runs |
| James Vince | 12 | 356 |
| Chris Lynn | 10 | 284 |
| Shimron Hetmyer | 12 | 228 |
| Jordan Cox | 12 | 215 |
| Usman Khan | 8 | 164 |
Source: ESPNCricinfo.

### Most wickets

| Player name | Matches | Wickets |
| Zuhaib Zubair | 8 | 11 |
| Chris Jordan | 11 | 11 |
| Jamie Overton | 10 | 10 |
| Aayan Khan | 8 | 6 |
| Blessing Muzarabani | 7 | 6 |
Source: ESPNCricinfo.

### Most runs

| Name | Matches | Runs |
| James Vince | 11 | 439 |
| Chris Lynn | 8 | 278 |
| Shimron Hetmyer | 10 | 257 |
| Gerhard Erasmus | 8 | 141 |
| David Wiese | 11 | 103 |
Source: ESPNCricinfo.

### Most wickets

| Player name | Matches | Wickets |
| Chris Jordan | 10 | 20 |
| David Wiese | 11 | 18 |
| Carlos Brathwaite | 5 | 8 |
| Rehan Ahmed | 6 | 8 |
| Sanchit Sharma | 11 | 7 |
Source: ESPNCricinfo.

## Kit manufacturers and sponsors

| Year | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor (front) | Shirt sponsor (back) | Chest branding |
| 2023 | T10 Sports | Ambuja Cements | Fortune | Tata Capital |
| 2024 | T10 Sports | ACC | Fortune | Unicon365 |
| 2025 | | ACC | Fortune | |