20-year-old left-arm spinner Aayan Khan starred in Gulf Giants's six-wicket win over Sharjah Warriorz in ILT20 2025 clash at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Aayan picked up an economical three-fer, including wickets of Kusal Mendis and Tim David. Sharjah Warrioz struggled in the run chase despite an impressive opening stand but managed to get over the line with six wickets in hand and two balls to spare.
Aayan’s brave spell
Johnson Charles got Sharjah Warriorz off to a good start but Tom Kohler-Cadmore struggled to find boundaries. Mark Adair dismissed the English batter for a single-digit score in the fourth over. Kusal Mendis provided the acceleration. Sharjah Warriorz were 48/1 after powerplay overs. In the eighth over, Mendis got caught at long-off in Aayan's first over. In his second over, he got the wicket of Charles who scored 36 runs from 32 balls. Warriorz were 69/3 at the halfway stage.
David hit a couple of fours before falling to Aayan in the 14th over of the innings. He scored 19 runs from 14 balls. Sikandar Raza disappointed as well, getting lbw to left-arm spinner Liam Dawson. Super sub Dwaine Pretorius rescued Warriorz. In the 18th over, Shubham Ranjane for a 21-ball 17. In the penultimate over, Pretorius hit Azmatullah Omarzai for a couple of sixes. In the final over, Nuwan Thushara conceded 12 runs. Pretoris' 17-ball 36 and Adil Rashid's six-ball 12 helped Warriorz post 157/6.
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Menacing opening partnership
Tim Southee started off with an economical over. But, Wasim Akram failed to put pressure on the opening duo. James Vince hit a couple of fours. Then, Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a four and a six in the 21-run over. Gurbaz hit a couple of sixes off Southee's over. Vince hit a couple of sixes during the fielding restrictions. After powerplay overs, Gulf Giants were 73 for no loss. In the eighth over, Raza broke the partnership with Vince's wicket. He scored 35 runs from 38 balls. In the 12th over, Giants got past the 100-run mark.
Omarzai saves the day for Giants
In the 13th over, Rashid got the wicket of his fellow podcasters, Moeen Ali. He got knocked over for a 13-ball 14. In the same over, Gurbaz got to his fifty from 34 balls. In the 14th over, Gurbaz was dismissed by Raza. He scored 50 runs from 36 balls. After two boundary-less overs, Omarzai broke free. In the final over, nine runs were needed. Omarzai started with a six off Southee and got out the next balls. Sean Dickson scored the remaining three runs as Giants won the match with two balls to spare. On the other end, Gerhard Erasmus could score only 15 runs from 18 balls.
Aayan wins ‘Player of the match’ award
This is Giants' third win of the season. Aayan was named 'Player of the match'.
“It was a big spinning wicket. For me it was happy to take few wickets. I was seeing in this team for me to bowl 4 overs is so good because I didn't bowl for few games and it was so good to bowl now,” the 20-year-old said in the post-match presentation.
Giants' next match is against Desert Vipers. In their previous clash, Sam Curran's Vipers won in the super over.