Abu Dhabi Knight Riders v Gulf Giants ILT20 team news
Knight Riders have lost two tosses at a crucial time in the race for the play-offs, being forced to defend against Sharjah and Dubai Capitals. The result has been two defeats.
They have dispensed with the services of Laurie Evans but remain hit and miss in the middle order. Evans got the axe for a stinker against MI Emirates but at least he is dispensable. Alishan Sharfau as one of the two mandated home players has to play. And when he scores 17 of 23 for a strike rate of 73 ADKR must be tearing out their hair. Sunil Narine is skip. They have leaned on Caribbean talent having lost Phil Salt and Charith Asalanka to squad churn.
Possible ADKR XI: Mayers, Gous, Clarke, Chase, Sharfau, Narine, Russell, Holder, willey, Hinds, Ibrar
Giants are hiding their UAE players. In the crunch defeat by Emirates, Azaal Khan bowled only two overs and didn’t bat while Saghir Khan, for the second game running, did nothing at all. They are essentially playing with ten men.
Possible Giants XI: Erasmus, Vince, Cox, David, T Curran, Hetmyer, Adair, Jordan, Afzaal khan, Saghir, Muzarabani
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders v Gulf Giants ILT20 pitch report
There is no historical toss bias in night matches at Abu Dhabi with a fifty-fifty split over four years (40 matches). That is a pretty chunky study sample. There is a sizeble bias for the chaser tournament-wide but this venue is most definitely the exception. Batting first has been the way to go with five from six when by the team defending. The run rate averages tell the story with 9.10 runs an average in the first-innings with that dipping to just 7.2 in the second. That is a gig gap.
We could well be able to go long on a par line in the mid-to late-160s here. If so we would caveat that with a stipulation that ADKR need to be batting first. With a run rate of 8.6 they have been much quicker with the bat this season. Giants’ economy rate of 8.1 keeps ADKR keen.
ADKR are two points off fourth place with two to play. They have a superior run rate to Dubai Capitals just ahead of them so they could afford to lose this game by a tight margin and then beat Dubai in their final match to steal in front. So long as Dubai lose to Vipers in their final match, of course.
Giants must win if they are to stand any chane of making the play-off. They would qualify on net run rate but need results to go their way elsewhere. They were on the receiving end of a bad coin toss against Emirates on Friday night and it may feel a bit of a struggle to go again with so much against them.
When the sides met earlier in the competition, Knight Riders were able to defend a target in Dubai at night. They posted 176, which is another feather in the cap for that runs play. There is also a sizeable gap between the teams in ADKR’s favour in terms of net run rate. ADKR are the right favs at a probable jumping off point of 1.70.
