The UAE’s IPL-style DP World International League T20 tournament this year will see Pakistan cricket great Babar Azam playing for one of the six teams.
The player’s participation, along with those of other global cricket stars, was announced through a list of players published ahead of the Player Auction, which will take place at the ICC Academy Indoors, Dubai on Thursday, October 1.
Babar’s arrival is a great boost to the world’s second-most watched T20 league after the IPL.
The star Pakistan batter is expected to draw big crowd to the stadiums when the fifth edition of the league gets underway in November.
Other globally recognised T20 superstars on the list are Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstoner.
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The auction will feature more than 200 players hailing from 23 countries — 11 full member nations, ILT20 partners Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and an additional ten associate member nations.
The 2026 edition of the ILT20 League will be played between November 21 and December 20 at Dubai International Stadium, Sharjah Cricket Stadium and the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The fixtures will be announced soon.
Price slabs for the auction
Players have been grouped into price slabs of $80,000, $40,000, and $10,000. The full breakdown can be seen in the image below.
Rules for the auction are:
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All UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia players will enter the auction at the $10,000 base price.
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No UAE, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait player can be retained by teams this season.
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Teams are permitted to use one Right to Match option (RTM) on a UAE player that either played for them in the previous season or played for their team in the recently concluded DP World ILT20 Development Tournament.
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Each franchise will enter the auction with a purse of $1.3 million plus any remaining amount from the $700,000 allocated earlier for Pre-Auction Signings.
Source: Khaleej Times