# Abu Dhabi Knight Riders

The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) is a professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the International League T20, a men's Twenty20 league hosted by the Emirates Cricket Board. The franchise is owned by the Knight Riders Group, a sporting subsidiary alliance between the Red Chillies Entertainment and the Mehta Group. Their home ground is the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

## 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 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.

## Home ground

The Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi (with the two ends of the crease called the North End and the Pavilion End) is serving as the home ground of the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. It is operated by the Emirates Cricket Board and is the third-oldest cricket stadium in the country. It is also the second-largest stadium in the United Arab Emirates in terms of crowd capacity with the stadium having over 20,000 seats. In 2021, The stadium hosted some matches of the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup as the tournament was shifted to UAE after the original hosts India were unable to host the tournament due to the outbreak of second-wave of COVID-19 among the whole country. The stadium also served as the home ground for the Kolkata Knight Riders during the 2020 and 2021 editions respectively.

## Captains

| Player | Tenure | Matches | Won | Lost |
| Sunil Narine | 2023-Present | 30 | 9 | 21 |
| Andre Russell | 2024 | 1 | 1 | - |

## Statistics
### Season summary

| Season | League standing | Final standing |
| 2023 | 6th out of 6 | League Stage |
| 2024 | 4th out of 6 | Playoffs |
| 2025 | 6th out of 6 | League Stage |

### Overall results

| Year | Played | Wins | Losses | NR |
| 2023 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 2024 | 11 | 5 | 6 | - |
| 2025 | 10 | 3 | 7 | - |

### Against Teams

| Team | Span | Played | Won | Lost | NR |
| Gulf Giants | 2023-2025 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Dubai Capitals | 2023-2025 | 7 | 1 | 6 | - |
| Desert Vipers | 2023-2025 | 6 | 2 | 4 | - |
| MI Emirates | 2023-2025 | 6 | 1 | 5 | - |
| Sharjah Warriors | 2023-2025 | 6 | 3 | 3 | - |

## Current squad

| Name | Nationality | Batting style | Bowling style |
| Batsmen ||||
| Alishan Sharafu | United Arab Emirates | Right-handed | Right-arm medium |
| Laurie Evans | England | Right-handed | Right-arm off break |
| Charith Asalanka | Sri Lanka | Left-handed | Right-arm off break |
| Wicket-Keepers ||||
| Michael Pepper | England | Right-handed | — |
| Joe Clarke | England | Right-handed | — |
| Andries Gous | United States | Right-handed | — |
| Philip Salt | England | Right-handed | — |
| All-rounders ||||
| Sunil Narine (c) | West Indies | Left-handed | Right-arm off break |
| Jason Holder | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium |
| Andre Russell | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium |
| David Willey | England | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium |
| Kyle Mayers | West Indies | Left-handed | Right-arm medium |
| Roston Chase | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm off break |
| Bowlers ||||
| Ali Khan | United States | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium |
| Adhitya Shetty | United Arab Emirates | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break |
| Gudakesh Motie | West Indies | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox |
| Ibrar Ahmed | United Arab Emirates | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium |
| Shahid Bhutta | United Arab Emirates | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium |
| Sufiyan Muqeem | Pakistan | Left-handed | Left-arm chinnaman |
| Terrance Hinds | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium |
| Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | Sri Lanka | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break |

## Administration and support staff

| Position | Name |
| CEO/Managing Director | Venky Mysore |
| Team manager | Adrian Wayne Bentley |
| Head coach | Dwayne Bravo |
| Assistant coach | Riyan Ten Doeschate |

## Knight Riders Group

* Kolkata Knight Riders
* Trinbago Knight Riders (Men's)
* Los Angeles Knight Riders
* Trinbago Knight Riders (Women's)