Gulf Giants steamroll Vipers to clinch inaugural ILT20 title

A brilliant bowling display from Carlos Brathwaite (3/19) that saw him win the Player of the Match and a terrific knock from Chris Lynn (72* off 50 balls) helped Gulf Giants to clinch the inaugural ILT20 title as they defeated Desert Vipers by seven wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, February 12.

Gulf Giants won an important toss and chose to bowl first. Desert Vipers’ powerplay problems continued in the final as well. Gulf Giants took three wickets of Vipers’ top order within the powerplay which left Vipers reeling at 25/3 after 4.3 overs. Vipers lost skipper Colin Munro early after the powerplay as he scored just six runs and the team needed a major partnership.

Wanindu Hasaranga and Sam Billings were at it once again and stitched a 72-run partnership. But after Billings and Hasaranga got out in successive overs, Giants started to make a comeback. The lower order batters contributed a lot and helped Vipers reach a decent total of 146.

The Gulf Giants’ top order came out all guns blazing and started finding boundaries with ease. But Desert Vipers took two quick wickets and tried pulling the match in their favour. However, Chris Lynn made sure that Giants’ run chase progressed with ease. He stitched important partnerships with Gerhard Erasmus and Shimron Hetmeyer and stayed right till the end to ensure Giants got the victory.