We continue to close in on the end of the ILT20 2025 regular season on Saturday when the bottom two in the table meet in a match which will most likely spell the end of the tournament for the losers when Abu Dhabi Knight Riders take on the Gulf Giants.
The Giants were the inaugural champions of this competition but a loss here would see their season end whereas defeat for the Knight Riders would leave them needing to win their final match else they will be eliminated too.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
This hasn’t been a season that the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders would have wanted so far but they can still make something of it because they remain in control of their own destiny even though the regular season ends in three days. Were they to win both of their matches then they will definitely be into the finals but it might well be that one win from their last two will be enough. Given that the second game comes 24 hours after this one they will be keen to win here and ease the pressure on that second match.
The Knight Riders have lost their last two matches where their bowlers just haven’t been able to defend a score. The dew is a factor though so we should cut them a little bit of slack but it is a bowling unit that if they don’t take wickets early on in the innings they can really go the distance the longer it goes on. That puts pressure on their batting to come up with the goods and all too often that hasn’t happened at present.
Gulf Giants
The Gulf Giants were the comfortable winners of the competition in the opening season of the tournament but after being beaten in the Qualifier 2 a year ago, they have made a bit of a mess of this campaign. That isn’t completely surprising though because international call ups and a couple of players going deeper in the Big Bash League than they might have expected has had a real impact on the strength of their side and they have paid the price as a result.
The Giants aren’t out of the competition but they don’t just need to win this, they could do with winning it by as big a margin as possible and even then they are going to need help from others over the weekend. They can only do their bit and you would imagine that they will give everything they have got here in what is the final regular season game for them. They have to back up after losing the day before and although back-to-back games are happening around the world more often, it is still never easy.
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Key Players
Jason Holder continues to shine for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in this competition. Although he couldn’t get them over the line in the previous match he still clubbed 26 off 17 and then took 2-22 so the loss to the Sharjah Warriorz certainly wasn’t because of him.
James Vince has two 50s to his name in the competition this season and if the Gulf Giants are going to get what they need out of this match then you would imagine that they are going to need their captain to go big once again.
Betting
Regular readers will know that I’m not a fan of backing teams who have played the day before but there is an exception to every rule and I think the Gulf Giants could be that here. Firstly, they are not playing a team who have shown much consistency and secondly this is the last game of their season if it doesn’t go right and so they can leave everything out on the field and hope that it is good enough whereas Abu Dhabi Knight Riders will still have qualification in their own hands on Sunday should they lose here.
That isn’t to suggest that the Knight Riders won’t want to win this but if they are in a position where the game is getting away from them then they might turn and look towards Sunday and save a little bit for that. The Giants can’t do anything like that and to be fair to them, while they lost to the MI Emirates on Friday, they put up a decent fight and James Vince finding form will certainly do them no harm. This doesn’t look a great deal more than a 50:50 match to me but with the Giants having slightly more riding on it I’ll take them to come out on top here.
Tips
Back Gulf Giants to beat Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
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