Always believed that we can win, says Deccan Gladiators' Head Coach Mushtaq Ahmed

Deccan Gladiators defeated Delhi Bulls by 56 runs on Saturday to win their maiden title in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.

"We always believed that we can win! The self-belief helped us to go out there and express ourselves and play a fearless brand of cricket which was visible in all our performances all through the tournament. I couldn't have asked for a more professional approach from this bunch which executed everything the way we planned," said the coach as per an official release.

Put into bat, Gladiators rode on Andre Russell (90) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore's (59) record-breaking opening stand to post 159 for no wicket at the end of their stipulated overs. Chandrapaul Hemraj kept the Bulls in the game with a quickfire 42 off 20 deliveries but Odean Smith, Wanindu Hasaranga and Tymal Mills picked up two wickets each to restrict the Delhi team to 103 for the loss of seven wickets.

Skipper Wahab Riaz congratulated the team on the remarkable title triumph and said, "In this tournament, we showed tremendous fighting spirit, and took the game away from our opposition by some incredibly dominating performance in every aspect of the game. Not just in one game, but we maintained that in almost every game all through the tournament. We also backed each other to succeed and it helped us bond as a team, and in fast-paced high-pressure games like this, it is important that you have each other's back all the time." (ANI)