Globally recognised T20 superstars Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone headline the DP World International League T20 Season 5 Player Auction List. The Player Auction will take place at the ICC Academy Indoors, Dubai on Thursday, 1 October.
The auction will feature more than 200 players hailing from 23 countries. The talent pool includes players 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.
The USD 80,000 bracket includes T20 bigwigs like Babar Azam, Phil Salt (represented Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in Season 4), Tom Banton (represented MI Emirates in Season 4), David Willey (represented Dubai Capitals in Season 4), Fakhar Zaman (represented Desert Vipers in Season 4), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (represented Gulf Giants in Season 4), Usman Tariq (represented Desert Vipers in Season 4), Jonny Bairstow (represented MI Emirates in Season 4), Moeen Ali (represented Gulf Giants in Season 4), Liam Livingstone (represented Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in Season 4), Alzarri Joseph, Wanindu Hasaranga, Faf du Plessis, Taskin Ahmed (represented Sharjah Warriorz in Season 4), Alex Hales (represented Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in Season 4), Naseem Shah (represented Desert Vipers in Season 4), Sahibzada Farhan, Fazalhaq Farooqi (represented MI Emirates in Season 4), Chris Woakes (represented MI Emirates in Season 4) and Dasun Shanaka (represented Dubai Capitals in Season 4).
The USD 40,000 category is a blend of some of the most exciting T20 talent and richly experienced performers like Jayden Seales, Ibrahim Zadran, Shadab Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi (represented Gulf Giants in Season 4), Avishka Fernando, Hassan Nawaz (represented Desert Vipers in Season 4), Shoriful Islam, Maaz Sadaqat, Kusal Perera, Gulbadin Naib (represented Dubai Capitals in Season 4), Chris Green, Andre Fletcher (represented MI Emirates in Season 4) and Hunain Shah.
The USD 10,000 category will be pivotal for the teams in terms of shaping their Season 5 squads. The category includes Will Smeed, Lorcan Tucker (represented Gulf Giants in Season 4), Asa Tribe, Shayan Jahangir (represented Dubai Capitals in Season 4), Reeza Hendricks, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Ish Sodhi, George Munsey, Matt Potts, Bas De Leede and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
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. 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 1 October 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.
Auction Purses and Squad Composition
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (purse: USD 1,365,000)
Current squad includes: Three players from Full Members and one from Associate Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, eight from Full Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Desert Vipers (purse: USD 1,305,000)
Current squad includes: Three players from Full Members and one from Associate Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, eight from Full Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Dubai Capitals (purse: USD 1,300,000)
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Gulf Giants (purse: USD 1,305,000)
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
MI Emirates (purse: USD 1,390,000)
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
Sharjah Warriorz (purse: USD 1,300,000)
Current squad includes: Four players from Full Members
Yet to acquire: Four UAE Players, seven from Full Members, one from Associate Members, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia
The DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction will be live streamed on the official ILT20 YouTube Channel (ILT20Official). In India the live stream will be available on Zee5.
The DP World ILT20 Season 5 will be played from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 20 December 2026 – Zayed Cricket Stadium Abu Dhabi, Dubai International Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium are the three tournament venues. The fixtures will be announced soon.
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Current Squads – DP World ILT20 Season 5 – List of Pre-Auction Signings:
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders:
Finn Allen – Pre-Auction Signing
Jason Holder – Pre-Auction Signing (played for ADKR as Wildcard in Season 4)
Matthew Tromp – Pre-Auction Signing
Sunil Narine – Returns to the squad
Desert Vipers:
Andries Gous – Returns to the squad
Dan Lawrence – Returns to the squad
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman – Pre-Auction Signing (played for Dubai Capitals in Season 4)
Shimron Hetmyer – Pre-Auction Signing (played for DV as Wildcard in Season 4)
Dubai Capitals:
Marcus Stoinis – Pre-Auction Signing
Mustafizur Rahman – Returns to the squad
Noor Ahmad – Pre-Auction Signing (played for the Vipers in Season 4)
Rovman Powell – Returns to the squad
Gulf Giants:
Azmatullah Omarzai – Returns to the squad
Blessing Muzarabani – Returns to the squad
David Miller – Pre-Auction Signing
Heinrich Klaasen – Pre-Auction Signing
MI Emirates:
Nicholas Pooran – Returns to the squad
Rashid Khan – Returns to the squad
Romario Shepherd – Returns to the squad
Sherfane Rutherford – Pre-Auction Signing
Sharjah Warriorz:
Adam Milne – Pre-Auction Signing (played for the Warriorz in Season 3)
James Vince – Pre-Auction Signing
Waqar Salamkheil – Pre-Auction Signing
Sikandar Raza – Returns to the squad
More than 200 players from 23 countries set to enter the auction The DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction will be live-streamed on the official ILT20 YouTube Channel (ILT20Official). In India, the live stream will be available on Zee5