ABU DHABI – The West In­dies trio of An­dre Rus­sell, Ja­son Hold­er and Sunil Nar­ine starred with the ball to help the Abu Dhabi Knight Rid­ers de­feat the Gulf Gi­ants by 32 runs and book their spot in the In­ter­na­tion­al League T20 play­offs in the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates on Sun­day.

Led by half cen­turies from open­ers Michael Pep­per and Phil Salt, the Knight Rid­ers post­ed a com­pet­i­tive to­tal of 179 for one in their 20 overs af­ter be­ing sent in to bat at the Dubai In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Sta­di­um.

Play­er-of-the-Match Pep­per top­scored with 83 off 51 balls with six fours and four six­es, while Salt hit an un­beat­en 72 off 56 balls, in­clu­sive of four six­es and two fours, dur­ing an open­ing part­ner­ship of 131 in 15 overs.