Babar Azam, Franchise Budgets, and Squad Rules: Everything You Need to Know About the ILT20 Auction

The DP World International League T20 player auction is set to take place at the ICC Academy on Thursday, promising a significantly larger event than last year's pilot edition. With each of the six franchises having signed only four players so far, teams must add between 14 and 19 players each through the auction. This will result in a frenzied day of bidding in Dubai Sports City, where some players could secure life-changing fees.

Overall, franchises operate with a minimum squad salary of $1.5m and an upper limit of $2m for Season 5 of the tournament. Each franchise holds a purse of approximately $1.3m for the auction, in addition to any unused funds from the $700,000 originally allocated for their four pre-auction signings.

At the conclusion of the auction, each team must maintain a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23. This roster must include 11 players from ICC full member countries, with at least four from Afghanistan and one from Ireland. Furthermore, squads require a minimum of four players from the UAE, along with one each from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and another associate country.

Players from Test and associate nations—excluding the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia—set their base rates at $10,000, $40,000, or $80,000. All players from the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia carry a uniform base price of $10,000.

Auctioneer Richard Madley will randomly draw lots from sets of six to 10 players. Once a bid is placed, increments will follow specific thresholds: $2,000 for bids between $10,000 and $50,000; $5,000 between $50,000 and $100,000; and $10,000 for bids of $100,000 and above.

Franchises hold four "rights to match" during the auction, giving them first priority on players who represented them last season, as well as UAE players who were part of their setup or recent development tournaments.

Pre-auction signings include the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders with Finn Allen, Jason Holder, Matthew Tromp, and Sunil Narine. The Desert Vipers secured Andries Gous, Dan Lawrence, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Shimron Hetmyer. The Dubai Capitals added Marcus Stoinis, Mustafizur Rahman, Noor Ahmed, and Rovman Powell. The Gulf Giants picked up Azmatullah Omarzai, Blessing Muzarabani, David Miller, and Heinrich Klaasen. MI Emirates signed Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Romario Shepherd, and Sherfane Rutherford, while the Sharjah Warriorz welcomed Adam Milne, James Vince, Waqar Salamkheil, and Sikandar Raza.

Regarding Pakistani players, five of the six franchises feature Indian owners. Political tensions meant none targeted Pakistan players during the inaugural auction, allowing the American-owned Desert Vipers under Avram Glazer to recruit several top Pakistan talents without competition. Whether owners will take similar risks this year remains to be seen, particularly with Babar Azam entering the draft at the maximum base price of $80,000 for his potential first appearance in the UAE tournament.

The strategic requirement for four Afghan players forms part of an alignment between the Emirates Cricket Board and the Afghanistan equivalent to secure player availability during global calendar clashes. Meanwhile, UAE player availability could be impacted by a national team ODI series in December running concurrently with the league, potentially opening doors for Muhammad Waseem, Alishan Sharafu, and Ali Naseer.

The auction will be streamed live on ILT20’s YouTube channel.