The Gulf Giants is a professional franchise cricket team that participates in the International League T20, organised by the Emirates Cricket Board. 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 in 18 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. + Gulf Giants 2026 No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Notes Batters 10 David Miller Left-handedRight-arm off break2026 Wicket-keepers45 Heinrich Klaasen Right-handed Right-arm off break 202663 Jos Buttler Right-handed — 2026 All-rounders 9 Azmatullah Omarzai Right-handedRight-arm medium-fast 2026Bowlers40Blessing MuzarabaniRight-handedRight-arm fast medium 2026
Season YearLeague standingFinal standing20231st out of 6Champion20242nd out of 6Playoffs20255th out of 6League Stage2025–265th out of 6League Stage
Administration and support staff Position NameHead coachSimon HelmotBatting coach Michael KlingerBowling coachShane BondFielding coachKadeer AliStrength & conditioning coachGary BrentphysiotherapistJames Pipe
Coaching history NameYears PositionrefAndy Flower2023—2025Head coach Jonathan Trott2025–26Head coachSimon Helmot2026–presentHead coach
Statistics and records 2024 Most runs NameMatchesRunsJames Vince12356Chris Lynn10284Shimron Hetmyer12228Jordan Cox12215Usman Khan8164 Source: ESPNCricinfo.
Most wickets Player nameMatchesWicketsZuhaib Zubair811Chris Jordan1111Jamie Overton1010Aayan Khan86Blessing Muzarabani76 Source: ESPNCricinfo.
2022-2023 Most runs NameMatchesRunsJames Vince11439Chris Lynn8278Shimron Hetmyer10257Gerhard Erasmus8141David Wiese11103 Source: ESPNCricinfo.
Most wickets Player nameMatchesWicketsChris Jordan1020David Wiese1118Carlos Brathwaite58Rehan Ahmed68Sanchit Sharma117 Source: ESPNCricinfo.
Kit manufacturers and sponsors SeasonKit manufacturerShirt sponsor (front)Shirt sponsor (back)Chest branding2023 T10 Sports Ambuja Cements Fortune Tata Capital2024 ACC Ltd. Unicon36520252025–26Wolf 999 News
References
External links
Gulf Giants on ILT20