Big names go under the hammer at DP World ILT20 player auction

A host of global T20 superstars headline the player list for the DP World International League T20 Season 5.

The big names include Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone.

The auction will take place at the ICC Academy Indoors, Dubai on Thursday, October 1.

More than 200 players from 23 countries will be involved, including cricketers from 11 full member nations, DP World ILT20 partners Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and an additional ten associate member nations. 

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

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 enter the auction with a purse of USD 1.3 million plus any remaining amount from the USD 700,000 allocated earlier for Pre-Auction Signings.  

MI Emirates enter the auction with the largest purse at USD 1,390,000, and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders follow with USD 1,365,000.

Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants have USD 1,305,000 each in their kitty while Dubai Capitals and Sharjah Warriorz have fully utilised their USD 700,000 Pre-Auction Signings allocation, which means that they will enter the auction with USD 1.3 million each. 

At the end of the auction, each franchise must have a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23 players.

Within this there must be a minimum of 11 players from ICC Full Member countries (at least four of which must be from Afghanistan and at least one of which must be from Ireland), a minimum of four players from the UAE, a minimum of one player from Kuwait, a minimum of one player from Saudi Arabia and at least one further player from ICC Associate countries (excluding the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia).

Franchises must spend at least USD 1.5 million and no more than USD 2 million, with the option of signing one Wildcard player after the auction for an additional maximum fee of USD 250,000. 

All replacement players must have registered for the DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction, while players who withdraw from the auction on or before October 1 will be ineligible to participate in Season 5 as either a replacement or Wildcard. 

Furthermore, the playing XI for every match must include at least two UAE players, two Afghanistan players, along with one further Associate Member player.

The slot may be filled either by a third UAE player or by a cricketer from any other Associate Member, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.