Gulf Giants

"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.

And this time we have a bumper episode for you as we wrap up the ILT20 Development Tournament, the event that saw UAE players given the opportunity to showcase their talent before next month's DP World ILT20 auction ahead of Season 5.

The side representing the Desert Vipers finished as runners-up for the second successive season of losing out in the final to the Gulf Giants team by four wickets.

Coming up, we hear from Jack Luffman, the Desert Vipers development lead, who was head coach of the team at the development tournament, as well as Vitya Aravind, who was captain of the side.

And we also hear from two of the Vipers squad who are part of the Desert Vipers Talent Pathway programme, Punya Bhatia and Ayan Mizbar.

And in this one we look back at the final of the ILT20 Development Tournament that wrapped up at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City on Thursday evening, the 24th of September.

Sadly, it was a step too far for Vitya Aravind's side as they lost by four wickets to the Gulf Giants, but it was a terrific match to cap a fantastic competition that showcased the very best of UAE talent ahead of the DP World ILT20 Player Auction at the start of October.

After we recap on the final, we'll hear from Desert Vipers Development Lead, Jack Luffman, the team's head coach for the tournament, with his reflections on the ultimate match and the event as a whole.

It's worth saying at this juncture too, that the Vipers side's appearance in the Development Tournament Final means that it's four domestic finals in a row for the franchise, two in the DP World ILT20, and now two in the Development Tournament, and that's a pretty impressive effort by any measure.

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.

And in this episode, we look back on the Vipers team's semi-final against the Sharjah Warriors at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City on Wednesday evening, the 23rd of September.

And it was another back-from-the-dead victory for Vitya Aravind's side by 25 runs, which means they're in Thursday night's final against the Gulf Giants.

Coming up, we hear from head coach Jack Luffman, who gives us his perspective on another remarkable night of action.

The Gulf Giants team, the Vipers' opponents in the ultimate match, were the leading line-up in the league stage with four wins from their five matches, and they brushed aside the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the first semi, winning by six wickets with a remarkable 23 balls in hand, chasing 172 to win.

As for the Vipers, they ended up facing the Warriors after finishing third in the league stage, while the Warriors were second.

Both teams ended up on six points with three wins and two losses, but the Warriors were ahead thanks to net run rate.

We'll be having a positive chat tomorrow evening, Brian.

Jack Luffman, the Desert Vipers' head coach in this season's ILT20 development tournament, looking forward to the final after his side's 25-run win over Sharjah Warriors.

It's an event that sees all six franchises field teams at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City and it serves as a shop window for the UAE players ahead of the player auction in early October and that precedes Season 5 of the DP World ILT20.

And in this episode, we reflect upon the Vipers' side's third match of the development tournament, this time against Gulf Giants, and it's produced a second Vipers victory, this time by four wickets with three overs in hand.

We hear from the Desert Vipers development lead, Jack Luffman, the Vipers' head coach for these matches... as he gives us his take on the game.

So, without further ado, let's get into what unfolded.

The wickets for the Vipers bowlers were shared around among all six used by Vitya Aravind, with Wazim Akram the most successful with three for 23.

There were two wickets apiece for Matiullah Khan, leg spinner Hilal Afghan and Wali Mohammed, and Sanjay Bahal picked up the other one to fall.

If the Vipers were hoping for a straightforward chase, then the Gulf Giants bowlers and fielders had other ideas, and wickets fell at regular intervals indeed.

When the scoreboard read 69 for 5, the match appeared to hang in the balance.

Coming up, we hear from Vitya as he gives us his perspective on the loss.

One thing is certain, and that's that there's not much time to dwell on the reverse, as the Vipers are next in action in just 24 hours following the game against Sharjah, this time against Gulf Giants.

It's all part of a short, sharp tournament that lasts just 11 days.

For now, though, let's take you through everything concerning the match against Sharjah Warriors, including hearing from Captain Vitya Aravind.

And again, when the partnership was starting to flourish, we lose the wicket.

So I think that's something we... we spoke about after the game hopefully it was just a matter of two partnerships or even one big partnership and we'd have been 180 there so yeah i think we kept getting momentum in our side but then we kept losing it as soon as we thought we had control of the game so that's something which we addressed and the boys were very happy to talk about it and i think everyone evidently knew where we went wrong with that so i think that happens and i think credits to Sharjah bowlers i think they did bowl really well and they kept taking wickets in in the crunch time so then that's what got the total down to 160.

I suppose the positive is that with another match against Gulf Giants just 24 hours later, there's no time for anyone to get too down about the loss.

You've just got to get over it and go again, haven't you?

To be honest, I wasn't really nervous, um, to captain, uh, Desert Vipers this year because, um, the last three editions I've captained every team I've played.

Uh, 2024 I captained Gulf Giants and we won the tournament.

Last year I captained MI who were today's oppositions and of course today I'm captaining Vipers.

So in this tournament I've played it thrice and I've always captained a team.