ILT20 auction – MI Emirates bag Fazalhaq Farooqi with record bid, Babar Azam heads Desert Vipers’ Pakistan contingent

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For the second auction in a row, Vipers, owned by American businessman Avram Glazer, stacked up their core with Pakistan players, with no competing bids from the other five franchises. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Sharjah Warriorz, Gulf Giants and MI Emirates all have Indian owners. Only one of these teams – AKDR, who signed Usman Tariq for USD 80,000 in the accelerated round – picked a Pakistani player at the auction.

While Vipers secured the Pakistan quartet for USD 320,000, Afghanistan left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi alone went to MI Emirates for USD 380,000. He emerged as the biggest buy in an ILT20 auction, breaking the previous record set by Andre Fletcher in 2025. The West Indies wicketkeeper-batter made MI Emirates fork out USD 260,000 for him last year. In this auction, Fletcher took a hefty pay cut and moved to Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for USD 40,000.

Notably, Farooqi is the highest wicket-taker in the ILT20, with 64 strikes in 40 innings at an economy rate of 7.76.

England allrounder Liam Livingstone was the second-biggest buy in the 2026 ILT20 auction, commanding a bid of USD 350,000 from Giants. Livingstone will reunite with Giants’ new coach Simon Helmot – the pair previously worked together at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL earlier this year.

Afghanistan players in high demand

Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the only other player to breach the USD 300,000 bracket in the auction. ADKR outbid Vipers to snap up Gurbaz for USD 310,000, but Giants eventually used their Right-to-Match option to bring him back.

With each franchise needing to have at least four players from Afghanistan under the new auction and squad construction rules, their players were in great demand. All up, 25 players from Afghanistan were picked by the six franchises on Thursday.

ADKR missed out on Gurbaz, but they signed Gulbadin Naib for USD 75,000 and then wristspinner Qais Ahmad in the accelerated rounds of the auction for USD 38,000. They also signed Arab Gul, a quick wristspinner in the mould of Rashid Khan. Gul, 21, featured for MI Emirates in the previous season and more recently made his T20I debut for Afghanistan in the Asian Games in Japan.

As for MI Emirates, they used their Right-to-Match option to bring back mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar for USD 150,000, and pair him up with Rashid, who was among their pre-auction signings. Warriorz spent USD 140,000 on 41-year-old Mohammad Nabi, but there were no takers for his son Hassan Eisakhil.

Wahidullah Zadran, who is a bit of a clone of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, returned to Giants. He had played two games for them in the 2024-25 ILT20.

Uncertainty continues over availability of UAE players

While UAE T20I captain Harpreet Singh didn’t find any bids, Chennai-born wicketkeeper-batter Vriitya Aravind, who has not played for the national team for more than a year, attracted a bid of USD 70,000 from Vipers. Aravind’s T20I strike rate of 112.39 isn’t flash, but his price might have been driven up by the potential unavailability of the major UAE players for the ILT20 later this year.

The ILT20 will overlap with the 2027 ODI World Cup Qualifier playoffs. While the ILT20 will be played from November 21 to December 20 in the UAE, the Qualifier playoffs are set to run from December 1 to 22 with the ICC yet to confirm the venue.

It is understood that the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) approached the ICC to check whether the Qualifier playoffs could be moved to January, but was told the global cricket calendar was tightly packed.

Former captain and serial six-hitter Muhammad Waseem, meanwhile, made MI Emirates use their Right-to-Match option on him and have him back for USD 210,000. Waseem is currently not part of the UAE national side, and could be available for the entire ILT20 season.

There were no bids for former India international KS Bharat, who has now moved to the UAE, registering himself as a local wicketkeeper-batter for the ILT20. Bharat participated in the ILT20 development tournament in the lead-up to the auction, but found no takers in the specialists’ sets as well as the accelerated sets towards the fag end of the auction.

Meet the ILT20 newbies

Vipers picked England’s Aneurin Donald, an explosive batter who can also keep wicket. Donald’s T20 strike rate of 171.33 is comparable to those of Finn Allen, Mitch Owen and Abhishek Sharma.

Donald’s compatriot James Coles could be in line for an ILT20 debut as well after putting in impressive performances in the SA20 for Sunrisers Eastern Cape and in the Hundred for London Spirit. Coles was picked by MI Emirates for USD 100,000.

The OG Pollard – Kieron – is likely to miss the ILT20 but the other Pollard – Jakeem – earned a gig with ADKR, where he will work with coach Dwayne Bravo. As Trinbago Knight Riders’ head coach, Bravo had a front-row seat to Jakeem’s rise in CPL 2026, where the left-arm quick generated steepling bounce.

At ADKR, Jakeem will be joined by Sri Lanka-born USA allrounder Amshi de Silva, who was the breakout star of MLC 2026, for Texas Super Kings. De Silva ended up missing the CPL for TKR, but is now set to unite with Bravo in the ILT20. De Silva was picked for USD 100,000 after a bidding war.

“Bravo has been playing this game for a long time,” de Silva told Cricinfo in August. “He has experience, especially playing for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Definitely [I will gain] more [knowledge] of tactics, more skills and more game awareness from him, which will be huge for my career going forward.”

Squads

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders

Auction Signings: Alishan Sharafu (USD 110,000), Amshi De Silva (USD 100,000), Muhammad Rohid (USD 95,000), Moeen Ali (USD 80,000), Arab Gul (USD 80,000), Usman Tariq (USD 80,000), Gulbadin Naib (USD 75,000), Ibrar Ahmed (USD 46,000), Andre Fletcher (USD 40,000), Ajay Kumar (USD 40,000), Colin Munro (USD 40,000), Michael Pepper (USD 40,000), Qais Ahmad (USD 38,000), Jakeem Pollard (USD 10,000), Abdul Mannan Ali (USD 10,000), Ravija Sandaruwan (USD 10,000), Abdullah Tarakhail (USD 10,000), Lorcan Tucker (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Finn Allen, Jason Holder, Matthew Tromp, Sunil Narine.

Desert Vipers

Auction Signings: David Payne (USD 150,000), Fakhar Zaman (USD 80,000), Naseem Shah (USD 80,000), Babar Azam (USD 80,000), Shadab Khan (USD 80,000), Khuzaima Bin Tanveer (USD 75,000), Vriitya Aravind (USD 70,000), Aneurin Donald (USD 40,000), Abdullah Ahmadzai (USD 40,000), Joe Clarke (USD 40,000), Nangeyalia Kharote (USD 28,000), Sanjay Pahal (USD 22,000), Harry Tector (USD 12,000), Ishtiaq Ahmed (USD 12,000), Nilansh Keswani (USD 10,000), Saleem Safi (USD 10,000), Bilal Tahir (USD 10,000), Wali Muhammad (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Andries Gous, Dan Lawrence, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Shimron Hetmyer.

Dubai Capitals

Auction Signings: Faf du Plessis (USD 300,000), Max Holden (USD 100,000), Dasun Shanaka (USD 100,000), Aayan Khan (USD 95,000), Hassan Khan (USD 90,000), Phil Salt (USD 80,000), Sediqullah Atal (USD 70,000), Mark Adair (USD 55,000), Karim Janat (USD 40,000), Luke Wood (USD 40,000), Tom Moores (USD 40,000), Haider Ali (USD 38,000), Zuhaib Zubair (USD 26,000), Darwish Rasooli (USD 10,000), Muhammad Arfan (USD 10,000), Matt Potts (USD 10,000), Usman Najeeb (USD 10,000), Anudeep Chenthamara (USD 10,000), Masood Ul Rahman Gurbaz – U19 (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Marcus Stoinis, Mustafizur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Rovman Powell.

Gulf Giants

Auction Signings: Liam Livingstone (USD 350,000), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (USD 310,000), Alzarri Joseph (USD 230,000), Shamar Joseph (USD 80,000), David Wiese (USD 70,000), Ibrahim Zadran (USD 65,000), Tabraiz Shamsi (USD 40,000), Curtis Campher (USD 22,000), Dhruv Parashar (USD 10,000), Matiullah Khan (USD 10,000), Haider Razzaq (USD 10,000), Imran Mir (USD 10,000), Imtiaz Khan (USD 10,000), Meet Bhavsar (USD 10,000), Shubham Ranjane (USD 10,000), Wahidullah Zadran (USD 10,000), Awais Ahmed (USD 10,000), Sagar Kalyan (USD 10,000), Alick Athanaze (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Azmatullah Omarzai, Blessing Muzarabani, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen.

MI Emirates

Auction Signings: Fazalhaq Farooqi (USD 380,000), Muhammad Waseem (USD 210,000), Chris Jordan (USD 170,000), AM Ghazanfar (USD 150,000), Lizaad Williams (USD 110,000), James Coles (USD 100,000), Jonny Bairstow (USD 80,000), Kusal Perera (USD 40,000), Jordan Thompson (USD 40,000), Zahoor Khan (USD 30,000), Wasim Akram (USD 10,000), Zain Ul Abidin (USD 10,000), Muhammad Shafeeq (USD 10,000), Asa Tribe (USD 10,000), Raizal Nadir Nather Shah (USD 10,000), Sanjay Krishnamurthi (USD 10,000), Faridoon Dawoodzai (USD 10,000), Ross Adair (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford.

Sharjah Warriorz

Auction Signings: Richard Gleeson (USD 180,000), Mohammad Nabi (USD 140,000), Paul Walter (USD 110,000), Adil Rashid (USD 80,000), Brandon McMullen (USD 80,000), Tom Banton (USD 80,000), Craig Overton (USD 80,000), George Linde (USD 40,000), Ali Aamer Naseer (USD 40,000), Fareed Malik (USD 40,000), Sharafuddin Ashraf (USD 40,000), Logan van Beek (USD 40,000), Junaid Siddique (USD 10,000), Tanish Suri (USD 10,000), Nabeel Aziz (USD 10,000), George Dockrell (USD 10,000), Mohammad Saqib (USD 10,000), Arunraj Selvaraj (USD 10,000), James Rew (USD 10,000).
Retentions and Direct Signings: Adam Milne, James Vince, Waqar Salamkheil, Sikandar Raza.

Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

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