Flexing more than biceps: Gulbadin Naib’s ILT20 masterclass | Cricket News

How good was Gulbadin Naib in the ILT20 2025? The bare numbers first: he scored 381 runs in 12 innings, averaging 42.33 and striking at 158.8. The tally put him sixth on the season’s run-scorers’ list, but it was a tightly packed one with Alex Hales, at 405 runs, being third highest. Importantly, none of the five men above him scored quicker than Gulbadin. While bowling, he got 11 wickets, at an average of 18.45 and an economy of 8.8. He was joint 11th highest among the wicket-takers.
By themselves, the numbers are very impressive. Sam Curran, who pipped Gulbadin to the Most Valuable Player award, had 387 runs but only seven wickets. And his strike rate (134.4) was much lower than Gulbadin, while his economy rate (8.4) was about the same.
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Where Curran edged in bowling was how he was used. He bowled almost his full quota of overs in each of the 13 games he played, whereas Gulbadin averaged less than two overs per game.

Gulbadin almost invented a new kind of role for himself at the Dubai Capitals. He was a strike-bowling part-timer. Among those who bowled at least 20 overs in the competition, Gulbadin’s strike-rate of 12.6 was the second-best, with only compatriot Fazalhaq Farooqi doing better at 11.8. And Farooqi was by a distance, the best bowler in the recently concluded ILT20 season.
So we have Gulbadin – a batter who struck consistently and brutally, and a bowler who invariably gave his team a breakthrough whenever he was called on to bowl. Biceps are far easier to flex than stats, but Gulbadin, already famous for the former, can now flex the latter too.
More than the stats though, it was the timing and manner of his performances that made him stand out.
In the opening game, the Capitals mustered only 133/8 against a power-packed MI Emirates line-up. Enter Gulbadin with figures of 3/13 in four overs, to squeeze out a one-run win. That included the wicket of a rampaging Nicholas Pooran, which swung the game the Capitals’ way.

Gulbadin Naib bagged 11 wickets, at an average of 18.45 and an economy of 8.8 for the Dubai Capitals in ILT20 2025.

Gulbadin would never bowl his full quota of four overs in the tournament again, but he had done his job. That one-run win made the difference in the Capitals finishing second and Emirates finishing third on the points table, and gave the Capitals an easier passage to the final.
During the league phase, he had several matches where he bowled only one or two overs, but he almost always gave his captain what was required: some control and often, a wicket.
His batting, meanwhile, hit stratospheric heights. Sometimes, literally, because of the sixes he was hitting. His 78* off 51 handed the Vipers their first defeat of the season. His 80 off 47 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders was a tour de force, as Capitals hunted down a massive target of 204. He had started slowly in the chase and was on 27 off 27 before he found his groove.
Once he found it, he exploded. The Capitals needed to win their last two league games to make it to the playoffs. In those two and Qualifier 1 that followed, Gulbadin made 47, 55 not out and 62, and his lowest strike rate in those knocks was 159.

Gulbadin Naib didn’t win the MVP Trophy for his efforts in ILT20 2025, but he went home with something bigger – the league title with Dubai Capitals.

The Qualifier against Desert Vipers showcased the best of Gulbadin, both in terms of skills and mental strength. While bowling, he took the wicket of the top-scoring Alex Hales (67 off 32), and added that of Wanindu Hasaranga, to keep the total to a chaseable one.
In the chase, he made 62 off 39. But he was also involved in running out his captain Sam Billings, calling him through for a risky second run. Billings was on 38 off 16, striking the ball like a dream, and the Capitals were chasing a hefty target of 190.
When he was run out, they still needed 73 runs from seven overs. Gulbadin had to shrug off the unfortunate run-out and get down to bashing the ball, and he did both.
Later, he would say he thrived most under pressure. “This wasn’t just another game,” he said. “The pressure of such games brings out the best in me. “That partnership was definitely the turning point of our innings. Even after the unfortunate run-out, Sam’s words were encouraging. He told me to finish the game, and that positive conversation motivated me even more to see it through.”

The Capitals had begun the tournament with one win in four games, that lone victory being the one engineered by Gulbadin in the season opener. They ended the season with seven wins in their last eight games. And Gulbadin was omnipresent: with the bat, the ball, with presence, and with belief.
It led to David Warner saying, “Gulbadin has grown from strength to strength. He’s adapted well to these wickets, which are a bit slow and low. He’s a big player for us.”
At the end of it all, with the trophy in Dubai Capitals’ hands, Gulbadin himself credited the whole unit for success. “It’s all teamwork. I did whatever I could, gave my 100 percent,” he beamed. “But today the team that we have, what we spoke was that whether we win or lose, we’ll celebrate together. And today the whole team came together and performed.”
The MVP trophy may have not gone to him. But Gulbadin will be more than happy with the ILT20 Trophy instead.
(Saurabh Somani is a Pondicherry-based freelance cricket writer. In his spare time, he watches the game anyway.)