Babar, Du Plessis & Salt to go under the hammer at ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction

Dubai: A host of internationally renowned T20 stars, including Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone, will headline the player list for the DP World International League T20 Season 5 Auction.

The auction is set to take place on Thursday October 1, at the ICC Academy Indoors in Dubai.

More than 200 cricketers from 23 countries will be involved in the auction, with the pool featuring players from 11 ICC Full Member nations, ILT20 partner countries Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as well as 10 other Associate Member nations.

Players have been grouped into price slabs of USD 80,000, 40,000, and 10,000. 

The USD 80,000 bracket features a host of T20 stars, including Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Alex Hales, Wanindu Hasaranga, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Alzarri Joseph.

The USD 40,000 category includes Shadab Khan, Ibrahim Zadran, Kusal Perera, Tabraiz Shamsi, Gulbadin Naib and Andre Fletcher.

The USD 10,000 bracket includes emerging and established names such as Will Smeed, Reeza Hendricks, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ish Sodhi and Matt Potts.

All UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia players will enter the auction at the USD 10,000 base price. As per the Season 5 Player Recruitment Rules, none of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait players could be retained by teams which means exciting bidding wars are expected for cricketers from the Gulf region including UAE’s DP World ILT20 stars such as Muhammad Waseem, Junaid Siddique, Haider Ali, Ayan Afzal Khan, Alishan Sharafu, and Khuzaima Tanveer. 

Teams are permitted to use one Right to Match option (RTM) on a UAE player that either played for them in DP World Season 4 or played for their team in the recently concluded DP World ILT20 Development Tournament.

Each franchise will have a starting purse of USD 1.3 million, with any unused funds from the USD 700,000 pre-auction signing allowance added on.

MI Emirates have the biggest budget at USD 1.39 million, followed by Abu Dhabi Knight Riders with USD 1.365 million. Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants each have USD 1.305 million available, while Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriorz have used their full pre-auction allowance and will enter with USD 1.3 million.

Following the auction, squads must consist of 18 to 23 players. Each team must include at least 11 players from ICC Full Member nations, including four from Afghanistan and one from Ireland, as well as a minimum of four UAE players, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia and one additional player from an ICC Associate nation.

Teams must spend between USD 1.5 million and USD 2 million, with the option to add one Wildcard player after the auction for a maximum of USD 250,000.

Any replacement players must have registered for the Season 5 auction. Players who withdraw on or before October 1 will not be eligible to feature as either replacements or Wildcards.

For every match, playing XIs must contain at least two UAE players, two Afghanistan players and one additional Associate Member player. The final Associate slot can be filled by another UAE player or a cricketer from an Associate nation, including Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (purse: USD 1,365,000) 
Current squad includes: Three players from Full Members and one from Associate Members 
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, eight from Full Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

Desert Vipers (purse: USD 1,305,000) 
Current squad includes: Three players from Full Members and one from Associate Members 
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, eight from Full Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

Dubai Capitals (purse: USD 1,300,000) 

Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members  
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

Gulf Giants (purse: USD 1,305,000) 
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members  
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

MI Emirates (purse: USD 1,390,000) 
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members 
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

Sharjah Warriorz (purse: USD 1,300,000) 
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members  
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia

The DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction will be live streamed on the official ILT20 YouTube Channel (ILT20Official). In India the live stream will be available on Zee5.

The DP World ILT20 Season 5 will be played from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 20 December 2026 – Zayed Cricket Stadium Abu Dhabi, Dubai International Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium are the three tournament venues. The fixtures will be announced soon.