The DP World International League T20 player auction will take place at the ICC Academy on Thursday.
It will be vastly larger than last year’s pilot edition. Each of the six franchises have been able to sign just four players so far – meaning they will need to add between 14 and 19 players each via the auction.
It means it will be a frenzied day off bidding in Dubai Sports City, with some players potentially earning life-changing fees.
How does it work?
Overall, franchises have a minimum salary of $1.5m for their playing squads for Season 5 of the T20 tournament, and an upper limit of $2m.
Each franchise will have a purse of around $1.3m to spend at the auction, plus whatever money they did not use from the $700,000 that was available for their four pre-auction signings.
Squad composition
At the end of the auction, each team must have a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23.
Eleven have to be from ICC full member countries, at least four of which must be from Afghanistan and one from Ireland.
There is also a minimum of four from the UAE, and one each from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and another associate country.
Salary base rates
Players from Test and associate nations – excluding UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – have been able to set their base rate at $10,000, $40,000 or $80,000.
All UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia players have a base price of $10,000.
Auction mechanics
Richard Madley, the auctioneer, will draw lots at random from sets of six to 10 players.
Once a player has received his first bid, it will be raised in the following increments:
- $2,000 for bids between $10,000 and $50,000
- $5,000 between $50,000 and $100,000
- $10,000 for bids of USD $100,000 and above.
Right to match
Franchises will each have four “rights to match” during the auction. That basically means they have first dibs on a player who played for them last season.
The same goes for a UAE player who was with them last year, or was part of their set-up in the recent development tournament.
Pre-auction signings
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Jason Holder, Matthew Tromp (associate player), Sunil Narine.
Desert Vipers: Andries Gous (associate player), Dan Lawrence, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Shimron Hetmyer.
Dubai Capitals: Marcus Stoinis, Mustafizur Rahman, Noor Ahmed, Rovman Powell.
Gulf Giants: Azmatullah Omarzai, Blessing Muzarabani, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen.
MI Emirates: Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford
Sharjah Warriorz: Adam Milne, James Vince, Waqar Salamkheil, Sikandar Raza.
What are the prospects for Pakistani players?
Five of the six franchises have Indian owners. Owing to political tensions between the countries, none of them went near Pakistan players in the first ILT20 auction.
It meant Desert Vipers – owned by American businessman Avram Glazer – were able to swoop for a number of excellent Pakistanis with no competing bids.
It is possible there will be a different dynamic this year. In the Hundred in England, some franchises who now have majority Indian ownership did recruit Pakistani players – although they suffered blowback from supporters of the IPL teams they also own.
Whether ILT20 owners will risk doing the same will be intriguing to see.
Babar Azam is in line to make his first appearance in the UAE’s T20 franchise tournament. The Pakistan star is listed for the maximum base price of$80,000.
The full list of players entered into the auction is available here.
Why four Afghans?
It makes sense there would be four UAE players per squad – although some argue there should be more – as the league is based here.
The new stipulation for having four Afghan players is less easily explained.
It is said to be part of a “strategic alignment” between the Emirates Cricket Board and their Afghanistan equivalent.
It is designed to encourage Afghan players to choose ILT20 in future if there is any clash with another league around the world.
Which UAE players could get bids?
Local representation is unclear because of a scheduling clash. The national team are due to play an ODI series in December, at the same time as the ILT20.
As such, ILT20 mainstays like Aayan Khan, Junaid Siddique and Khuzaima Tanveer – regulars for Gulf Giants, Sharjah Warriorz and Desert Vipers respectively – could be unavailable.
It leaves the path clear for players like Muhammad Waseem – the best UAE player to date in the ILT20 – Alishan Sharafu and Ali Naseer.
The franchises need to sign at least one capped player and one Under 23 player within their quartet of UAE players.
Broadcast
The auction will be streamed live on ILT20’s YouTube channel.
