The first-ever auction of the ILT20 will take place on Wednesday, October 1, at the Four Seasons Hotel, Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. The auction will be for the fourth season of the tournament, which will start on December 2. A draft took place in the first three seasons of the league.
Close to 300 players from more than 200 countries have registered for the auction. This includes associate nations like the UAE, Scotland, Jersey, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Kuwait, Namibia, and Saudi Arabia.
The six franchises have already retained a few players from last season and signed a few Wildcard players outside of the auction. ILT20 is a unique league as it gives players from the associate nations a chance to showcase their skills and play with some of the legends of the game. The management has made it mandatory for the franchises to include at least two UAE players along with one further Associate Nation player in the playing 11. The third slot can either be filled by a UAE player or by a player from any other associate nation.
Let’s look at the ILT20 Auction in detail:
Auction Format and Rules
Each franchise will enter the auction with a purse value of USD 800,000. The six franchises were allocated USD 1.2 million before the auction for direct signing and retention. Any amount left after direct signing and retention will be added to the purse amount for the auction.
Teams and Auction Purses
Dubai Capitals and Gulf Giants have the highest purse value. They will enter the auction for USD 1,035,000 each. The remaining four teams and their purse value are as follows: Sharjah Warriorz have USD 1,025,000, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders follow with USD 925,000, Desert Vipers with USD 802,500, and MI Emirates have USD 800,000.
Here is the current squad of all six teams after the retention and Wildcard signing round:
- Abu Dhabi Knight Riders: Liam Livingstone, Alishan Sharafu, Alex Hales, Sherfane Rutherford, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Jason Holder (Wildcard), Piyush Chawla (Wildcard)
- Desert Vipers: Lockie Ferguson, Dan Lawrence, David Payne, Khuzaima Bin Tanveer, Max Holden, Sam Curran, Wanindu Hasaranga, Andries Gous, Shimron Hetmyer (Wildcard)
- Dubai Capitals: Jordan Matthew Cox, Rovman Powell, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Waqar Salamkheil, Haider Ali, Muhammad Jawadullah, Jimmy Neesham, David Willey (Wildcard), Leus de Plooy (Wildcard)
- Gulf Giants: James Vince, Aayan Afzal Khan, Blessing Muzarabani, Gerhard Erasmus, Mark Adair, Azmatullah Omarzai, Moeen Ali, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Kyle Mayers (Wildcard), Matthew Forde (Wildcard)
- MI Emirates: Allah Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kamindu Mendis, Romario Shepherd, Tom Banton, Muhammad Waseem, Chris Woakes, Jonny Bairstow
- Sharjah Warriorz: Tim Southee, Dinesh Karthik, Johnson Charles, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Saurabh Netravalkar, Sikandar Raza, Tim David, Tom Abell (Wildcard), Adil Rashid (Wildcard)
Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was signed by Sharjah Warriors. This will be Karthik’s second stint in a T20 league after featuring in the SA20 last season. Piyush Chawla, a two-time IPL champion with Kolkata Knight Riders, will play for another Knight Riders franchise. He has been signed by the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders franchise as a Wildcard player. Chawla had registered for the SA20 Auction that took place last month, but went unsold. Chris Woakes, who announced his retirement from international cricket recently, has been retained by the MI Emirates franchise.
Top Players in the Auction
Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the biggest names in the auction this year. Ashwin has already signed with the BBL franchise Sydney Thunder and might become the most expensive player in the ILT20 auction. Ashwin had announced his retirement in August and indicated that he would participate actively in franchise cricket. Ashwin’s base price in the auction is USD 120,000.
The players have been grouped into price slabs of USD 120,000, 80,000, 40,000, and 10,000. Ashwin is the only player whose base price is USD 120,000. The price slab of USD 80,000 contains players like Evin Lewis, Tymal Mills, Jason Roy, Karim Janat, Saim Ayub, and Naveen-ul-Haq.
Hazratullah Zazai, Andile Phehlukwayo, D’Arcy Short, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Shakib Al Hasan, James Anderson, Andrew Tye, Unmukt Chand, and Najibullah Zadran are in the price slab of USD 40,000. Apart from Ashwin, three more Indian players have registered for the ILT20 auction. These three players are Priyank Panchal, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, and Siddarth Kaul. All three players have a price slab of USD 10,000.
Most of the players from associate countries and all the UAE players have a price slab of USD 10,000. Temba Bavuma, Paul Stirling, Richard Ngarava, and Dipendra Singh Airee are some of the other names in this price slab.
Auction Strategies and Franchise Needs
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (purse: USD 825,000)
- Current squad includes: one UAE U-23, seven from Full Member Nations
- Yet to acquire: three UAE Players, four from Full Member Nations, two from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Desert Vipers (purse: USD 802,500)
- Current squad includes: one UAE Player, six from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations
- Yet to acquire: two UAE Players, one UAE U-23, five from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Dubai Capitals (purse: USD 1,035,000)
- Current squad includes: two UAE Players, six from Full Member Nations
- Yet to acquire: one UAE Player, one UAE U-23, five from Full Member Nations, two from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Gulf Giants (purse: USD 1,035,000)
- Current squad includes: one UAE U-23, six from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations
- Yet to acquire: three UAE Players, five from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
MI Emirates (purse: USD 800,000)
- Current squad includes: one UAE Player, seven from Full Member Nations
- Yet to acquire: two UAE Players, one UAE U-23, four from Full Member Nations, two from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Sharjah Warriorz (purse: USD 1,025,000)
- Current squad includes: six from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations
- Yet to acquire: three UAE Players, one UAE U-23, five from Full Member Nations, one from Associate Nations, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Where and How to Watch
The live streaming of the auction will be available in India on ZEE5 and on the YouTube channel of ZEE5 (@ILT20onZee). Fans from the other part of the world can catch the action on ILT20’s official YouTube channel (@ILT20Official).
Conclusion
The fourth season of ILT20 will start on Tuesday, December 2, which is the UAE National Day. The season will conclude on Sunday, January 4, 2026. A total of 34 matches will be played in the tournament. The auction for the upcoming season is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 1. It will be the first-ever auction in the history of the league. A total of around 300 players from 20 countries will feature in the auction.
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