Dubai Capitals

"Be around in this period of time, and then we'll guarantee that your players are getting cricket." Which it's actually quite an interesting way of doing things.

But anyway, Desert Vipers, um, put a bid in for good players, and then Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Sharjah Warriors, Gulf Giants, and MI Emirates all went, "Ah, fine."

Mm.

All good fun.

UAILT20.

They have the Dubai Capitals.

Well, that's Delhi Capitals, you see.

You know, the, they have the Knight Riders, and the, the...

I think we often call it the Viper's way and you've obviously been involved from day one yourself and we continue to carry that through.

To what extent do you think fatigue played a part in the final loss, given you were the later game the night before and were off the back of two very testing and exhausting games versus Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriors?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think it would be fair to use fatigue as an excuse, but I think it would have certainly played a part.

I know towards the end of the game, I sat next to Clint in the dugout there and we both sort of said, you know, when it kind of looked really far away of us winning, you know, when they needed sort of, 15-20 runs and that partnership had been such a good one you could see our energy levels drop a little bit and they did look tired then but as you say we played the late game on the night before where we probably weren't getting into bed much before 2-3am in the morning and then back straight at it and also the adrenaline the emotion of that game and the and the comeback winner versus DC, and notwithstanding the fact that, as we've spoken about already on this podcast, is that the temperatures and the humidity have just been through the roof, and it's funny, I spoke to my parents this morning over the phone, and my mum said, you know, I was telling your dad, they're absolutely dripping wet, and it was, I mean, a couple of our boys yesterday had to change their shirts even before we started play, that's how heavy and humid it has been, which is obviously the same for for all the teams and I think it's credit to all the players across all six franchise teams how well they deal with it because I think it was you or I Brian we'd certainly be you know, getting the good old British whinge out, that's for sure.

The Vipers were bowled out with one ball unused for 143, but given the situation when Qusaay strode to the crease, they at least had something to bowl at, albeit not an imposing score that they would have wanted at the outset.

The Vipers had battled so hard to reach the final, winning two matches they might ordinarily have expected to lose against Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriors, and they carried that never-say-die attitude into the field once more.

Qusaay Mahboob Tanveer struck with the very first ball of the innings, a caught and bowled to dismiss the Giants impact sub, Tanish Suri, and they reduced the Giants to 15 for 3, 48 for 4, 76 for 5 and 89 for 6.

But the Giants always had in the back of their minds the fact that they weren't chasing a massive score, so they had scope to consolidate, and that's exactly what Soheb Khan with an unbeaten 30 and Junaid Shams with 29 not out did.

What was the thinking there, given due is often a factor that works against a side trying to defend a total? I think

it was more Vitya just wanted to get out there and set the tone, just like we did on Monday evening against Dubai Capitals.

I mean, in truth, we lost the toss on Monday and were asked to bat first, but I think Vitya was very keen to bat first anyway, so...

But tonight he came to me and said, I think I want to bat first again.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Vipers Voices, the podcast of the Desert Vipers, the champion team of the DP World ILT20, as we continue our coverage of the ILT20 Development Tournament.

And in this episode, we look back on an incredible victory for the Vipers side in their final league match of the tournament, a must-win game against the Dubai Capitals at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City on Monday evening, the 21st of September.

And that includes hearing from the Vipers' development lead and head coach for this tournament, Jack Luffman.

The Vipers scored 191 for nine, batting first, only for the Capitals to fly out of the traps in response, racing to 93 without loss in just the eighth over and seemingly on course for a win that would have sent them through to the semi-finals and, at the same time, knocked out the Vipers.

It's a result that leaves the Vipers outside the top four places on net run rate.

And with the top four going into the semifinals, it means the next match against the side immediately above them, the Dubai Capitals, has become, in effect, a quarterfinal.

Just to remind you, the ILT20 Development Tournament sees all six franchises' field teams and it serves as a shop window for the UAE players ahead of the player auction in early October that precedes Season 5 of the DP World ILT20.

The match against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders team went wrong for the Vipers from the first over.

With such an imposing total to chase, it meant the Vipers' batters had to be ultra-positive, but no one could produce in innings of substance to provide a platform for that chase.

Top score was Nilanj Keswani with 35, but of the other players, only Punya Bhatia with 22 topped 20.

Being bowled out for 108 meant it was a damaging loss for the side, as it's affected the team's net run rate adversely, but it's not fatal, as a win against the Dubai Capitals on Monday night should still be enough to secure a semi-final place.

So the Vipers must now put the ADKR loss behind them, and they have the perfect opportunity to do just that, with their last league stage match against Dubai Capitals on Monday evening, the 21st of September at 7pm at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City.

First of all, Jack, what an odd day for the tournament.

In the first match, my Emirates were bowled out for just 80, with Dubai Capitals winning by five wickets.

And then, in your match, Gulf Giants were knocked over for 109, and it proved hard work to get past that score.

We normally associate matches at the ICC Academy with high scoring, so what do you put these results down to? Is it just a coincidence or something else?

So his last two days and nights have all merged into one, I think.

So yeah, we're all looking forward to a couple of days off, refresh, recuperate.

And then, as I said, we're looking forward to Sunday's game against ADKR and then finishing off the group stage with a game against Dubai Capitals.

And then we'll see where we are.