The International League T20’s fifth-season player auction was held in Dubai on Thursday, 1 October, with up to 400 players from 23 countries going under the hammer as the UAE’s six franchises built their squads for a tournament scheduled to run from 22 November to 20 December. The standout name on the night was Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who was picked up by Desert Vipers for a base-price fee of US$80,000 after no rival bids were made for the former Pakistan captain, giving the defending champions a marquee top-order addition for their title defence.
Vipers add Babar without a fight
Desert Vipers enter the new season as defending champions after winning Season 4, and the acquisition of Babar Azam at his base price was viewed by franchise officials as one of the auction’s shrewdest pieces of business. Phil Oliver, CEO of Desert Vipers, said the club was delighted to add a player of Babar’s profile to a squad that already includes Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan. “He knows the UAE well, and yeah, he’s an excellent pick-up at the top of the order,” Oliver said. “We can’t wait to welcome him to the Desert Vipers family.” The lack of competing interest in a batter of Babar’s international pedigree surprised some observers in the room, with several franchise representatives noting that overseas-player slots and overlapping availability windows likely limited the number of teams able to bid.
Gulf Giants build a middle order of destroyers
At the other end of the spending spectrum, Gulf Giants made the two biggest-ticket moves of the evening, securing England’s Liam Livingstone for US$350,000 — the second-highest purchase of the auction — and Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for US$310,000. Those signings slot into a Gulf Giants top order that already features South Africa’s David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen, assembling what rival franchise scouts in Dubai described as one of the most powerful middle-order combinations in the competition’s five-year history. Fazalhaq Farooqi’s sale for the auction’s largest overall fee to MI Emirates was the only transaction to outstrip Livingstone’s price tag.
Spending power across the six clubs
Each of the six ILT20 franchises entered the auction with a purse of US$1.3 million, on top of whatever remained from the US$700,000 allocated for pre-season signings. MI Emirates carried the largest available purse into the room at US$1.39 million, trailed by Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on US$1.365 million and Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants, who each had US$1.305 million to spend. That depth of available funds across every franchise is part of why this year’s auction produced several seven-figure outlays rather than being dominated by one or two marquee battles.
A league still chasing marquee credibility
Since its 2023 launch, ILT20 has worked to position itself alongside the IPL, SA20 and BBL as a destination league rather than a stopover for players between other commitments, and this auction was read by several cricket executives in Dubai as evidence that the strategy is gaining traction. Not everyone in the UAE cricket community agrees the league has fully arrived, however; some commentators pointed to the thin bidding for Babar Azam as proof that the market for star Pakistani players remains constrained by scheduling clashes with the PSL and bilateral commitments, rather than any lack of ability, and argued the league still needs more such players to command auction-room contests rather than walking to a franchise unopposed.
What’s next before the season starts
With squads now largely complete, the six franchises have roughly seven weeks to finalise training, fitness protocols for their newly bought internationals and warm-up fixtures before the tournament begins on 22 November. Desert Vipers will head into the defence of their title with arguably the most recognisable top three in the competition, while Gulf Giants’ new-look middle order will be closely watched as a test of whether raw star power translates into results. For Babar Azam, the move represents a fresh opportunity to rebuild momentum in franchise cricket on a ground he already knows well, with his performances over the coming weeks likely to shape the conversation about his broader international future heading into 2027. The wider field of released and unsold players will also be worth monitoring, since several franchises are expected to continue finalising replacement signings and injury cover in the days before the tournament opens, meaning the composition of this year’s six squads may still shift at the margins even after Thursday’s headline sale.
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