ILT20 Season 1 (2023): Gulf Giants Win Inaugural Title, Chris Jordan Takes 20 Wickets

Gulf Giants won the inaugural International League T20 (ILT20) championship on 12 February 2023, defeating Desert Vipers by 7 wickets with 8 balls to spare at Dubai International Stadium. Desert Vipers posted 146/8; Gulf Giants chased it down in 18.4 overs at 149/3, with Chris Lynn hitting an unbeaten 72 off 50 balls to anchor the chase. Carlos Brathwaite bowled 3/19 as Player of the Match — dismantling the Vipers top order in the first innings. Chris Jordan (Gulf Giants) was Player of the Tournament with 20 wickets at 13.80 across the full competition.

Carlos Brathwaite: 3/19 in the Inaugural ILT20 Final

Carlos Brathwaite's 3/19 in the ILT20 Season 1 final was the key bowling performance that restricted Desert Vipers to 146/8 — a total Gulf Giants could chase with power hitting. Brathwaite, the West Indies right-arm fast bowler and lower-order hitter best known for hitting four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes in the 2016 World T20 final, has built a reputation as a franchise T20 match-winner across multiple global leagues. His ability to dismiss top-order batters at pace and create pressure early in an innings was the quality Gulf Giants needed in a final where a low-scoring target was the key advantage. His 3/19 across his overs helped set the platform that Chris Lynn's batting could comfortably finalise.

Chris Jordan: Player of the Tournament with 20 Wickets

Chris Jordan (Gulf Giants) was the inaugural ILT20's Player of the Tournament with 20 wickets at 13.80 — the highest wicket haul of the competition and one of the great individual bowling seasons in any franchise T20 league's inaugural edition. Jordan, England's right-arm fast-medium bowler who specialises in death bowling, brought his ability to bowl accurate yorkers under pressure to the ILT20's January-February window. His 20 wickets across the tournament reflected consistent wicket-taking across the full competition, not just the final — he was the architect of Gulf Giants' bowling plans throughout the season.

The ILT20's Historic Launch

The International League T20 (ILT20) launched in January 2023 as the UAE's first major franchise T20 competition, with six teams playing across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The competition's ownership structure — largely affiliated with IPL franchise groups, similar to the SA20 — gave it immediate credibility and access to high-quality international players. Gulf Giants' inaugural championship set the template for the competition's competitive balance: subsequent seasons have had different champions (MI Emirates won Season 2 in 2024 as their maiden title; Desert Vipers won in 2026 as their maiden title), confirming no single franchise has dominated since the first season.