There are two teams left to get their new International League T20 season up and running and they do so on Thursday when the ILT20 2025-26 campaign begins for the first two winners of the tournament when the Gulf Giants take on the MI Emirates in Dubai.
These two teams won the first two seasons of this competition but neither made it further than the Eliminator last term and they will want a big improvement on that effort. Here is a chance to show their credentials.
Gulf Giants
The Gulf Giants were the inaugural champions of this tournament and were second in the regular season table of the second year but they didn’t live up to expectations last time around and will be hoping that a reset and the player auction has had the desired effect and they can get back to challenging for the title once again. After one win in their opening five matches last season, the Giants won three of their last five so at least they had some momentum at the end of the previous campaign.
The Giants will be under a new captain for this season and they will be without a couple of their better batters from last term with Jordan Cox and Shimron Hetmyer auctioned by other franchises. They have also lost their leading wicket taker from last term as well and when you look down their squad list, they could be a little light with the ball so they are going to need their batters to come to the party and put up sizable totals else this could be another tricky campaign.
MI Emirates
The MI Emirates were the second winners of this competition and they will be looking to get their title back having given it up when they lost their Eliminator last term. They were installed as the pre-season favourites to win the tournament and one of the reasons why that was the case is because they managed to keep most of their stronger players with the franchise in the auction. We might only be four terms into this tournament but continuity is the key and they look like they will have it.
The one thing the Emirates definitely do have is batting power to burn. They have some of the cleanest hitters of a cricket ball in the game in their ranks and if they turn up in the same innings then MI are going to put up some big scores. They also have a couple of bowlers who have a good record in this part of the world so there is a lot to like about the Emirates and it would be no surprise were they to hit the ground running here.
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Key Players
Rahmanullah Gurbaz is becoming one of the better T20 franchise openers and the Gulf Giants will be looking at the Afghanistan star to get them off to a fast start and lay the platform for the rest of their batters to build from.
Nicholas Pooran is in the MI Emirates ranks and he has the chance to reaffirm himself as the best T20 batter going around the circuit. He should be fresh enough having given up international cricket and MI will hope he gets off to a good start.
Betting
It will be interesting to see how the new look Gulf Giants play here. They needed a refresh but there are definitely doubts over what they have with the ball in these early season conditions and that leads me to think that the MI Emirates will win this match but I’m loathe to back any team at cramped odds in this format of the game when you consider that it only needs one player to have a day out to scupper anything so I’ll look elsewhere for the way to get involved.
That comes in the form of the most sixes where the 4/5 on the Emirates looks a good thing. They have the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Romario Shepherd and others in their ranks who can all hit a long ball and Rashid Khan who is likely to offer up four tight overs with the ball. The Giants lack renowned big hitters and they don’t really have that gun bowler to rely on for four tight overs so I like MI Emirates to hit the most sixes here.
Tips
Back MI Emirates Most 6s for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
