DUBAI: Gulf Giants, the winners of the inaugural ILT20 season in 2023, are gearing up for another promising campaign and their star pacer and England’s left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills is confident about the team’s prospects.
Mills believes the squad has match-winners capable of turning games around and adding another trophy to their collection. Gulf Giants defeated Desert Vipers in the summit clash to win the inaugural ILT20 season.
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Mills, who has taken 14 wickets in 16 T20Is for England, is also thrilled about working alongside the legendary Flower brothers — Andy and Grant. Andy serves as the team’s head coach, while Grant is the batting coach.
“I know Grant really well. He is the assistant coach at Sussex, my county. So I work with Grant all year round anyway. As I said, I haven’t worked with Andy in franchise cricket. We’ve played against each other a lot. He was the England head coach when I was young, and I was around the squad, but I didn’t play under him,” Mills told TimesofIndia.com during an interview in Dubai.
“Andy is obviously a very experienced and very successful coach, so I’m really keen to hear and see how he operates day to day. I am just looking forward to hopefully contributing to some wins,” he added.
Mills previously played for Desert Vipers during the first two ILT20 seasons in 2023 and 2024 but had limited opportunities. The left-arm pacer featured in just five matches, claiming four wickets.
Now, as part of Gulf Giants, Mills is eager for a fresh start.
“I’m really excited to be here. There are a lot of players in the squad who I know really well, both from England and from my travels (while) playing T20 cricket,” he said. “This is my first time working with Andy (Flower) in an official capacity, so I’m really looking forward to that.
“We (the team) have had a great few days together, a couple of practice matches, some good training sessions, and we’re just looking to hit the ground running. It’s going to be another tough tournament, I’m sure. Every team looks really strong on paper, so we’re going to have to perform well if we have to go all the way,” Mills added.
