ILT20 public sale – MI Emirates bag Fazalhaq Farooqi with document bid, Babar Azam heads Desert Vipers’ Pakistan contingent

For the second public sale in a row, Vipers, owned by American businessman Avram Glazer, stacked up their core with Pakistan gamers, with no competing bids from the opposite 5 franchises. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Sharjah Warriorz, Gulf Giants and MI Emirates all have Indian homeowners. Solely certainly one of these groups – AKDR, who signed Usman Tariq for USD 80,000 within the accelerated rounds – picked a Pakistani participant on the public sale.

Whereas 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 most important purchase in an ILT20 public sale, breaking the earlier document set by Andre Fletcher in 2025. The West Indies wicketkeeper-batter made MI Emirates fork out USD 260,000 for him final yr. On this public sale, Fletcher took a hefty pay minimize and moved to Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for USD 40,000.

Notably, Farooqi is the best wicket-taker within the ILT20, with 64 strikes in 40 innings at an economic system price of seven.76.

England allrounder Liam Livingstone was the second-biggest purchase within the 2026 ILT20 public sale, commanding a bid of USD 350,000 from Giants. Livingstone will reunite with Giants’ new coach Simon Helmot – the pair beforehand labored collectively at Sunrisers Hyderabad within the IPL earlier this yr.

Afghanistan gamers in excessive demand

Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the one different participant to breach the USD 300,000 bracket within the public sale. ADKR outbid Vipers to snap up Gurbaz for USD 310,000, however Giants finally used their Proper-to-Match choice to carry him again.

With every franchise needing to have a minimum of 4 gamers from Afghanistan underneath the brand new public sale and squad building guidelines, their gamers have been in nice demand. All up, 25 gamers from Afghanistan have been picked by the six franchises on Thursday.

ADKR missed out on Gurbaz, however they signed Gulbadin Naib for USD 75,000 after which wristspinner Qais Ahmad within the accelerated rounds of the public sale for USD 38,000. Additionally they signed Arab Gul, a fast wristspinner within the mould of Rashid Khan. Gul, 21, featured for MI Emirates within the earlier season and extra just lately made his T20I debut for Afghanistan within the Asian Video games in Japan.

As for MI Emirates, they used their Proper-to-Match choice to carry again thriller spinner AM Ghazanfar for USD 150,000, and pair him up with Rashid, who was amongst their pre-auction signings. Warriorz spent USD 140,000 on 41-year-old Mohammad Nabi, however there have been no takers for his son Hassan Eisakhil.

Wahidullah Zadran, who’s a little bit of a clone of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, returned to Giants. He had performed two video games for them within the 2024-25 ILT20.

Uncertainty continues over availability of UAE gamers

Whereas UAE T20I captain Harpreet Singh did not discover any bids, Chennai-born wicketkeeper-batter Vriitya Aravind, who has not performed for the nationwide crew for greater than a yr, attracted a bid of USD 70,000 from Vipers. Aravind’s T20I strike price of 112.39 is not flash, however his value might need been pushed up by the potential unavailability of the most important UAE gamers for the ILT20 later this yr.

The ILT20 will overlap with the 2027 ODI World Cup Qualifier playoffs. Whereas the ILT20 will probably be performed from November 21 to December 20 within the UAE, the Qualifier playoffs are set to run from December 1 to 22 with the ICC but to verify the venue.

It’s understood that the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) approached the ICC to test whether or not the Qualifier playoffs might be moved to January, however was informed the worldwide cricket calendar was tightly packed.

Former captain and serial six-hitter Muhammad Waseem, in the meantime, made MI Emirates use their Proper-to-Match choice on him and have him again for USD 210,000. Waseem is presently not a part of the UAE nationwide aspect, and might be obtainable for the complete ILT20 season.

There have been no bids for former India worldwide KS Bharat, who has now moved to the UAE, registering himself as an area wicketkeeper-batter for the ILT20. Bharat participated within the ILT20 improvement match within the lead-up to the public sale, however discovered no takers within the specialists’ units in addition to the accelerated units in the direction of the fag finish of the public sale.

Meet the ILT20 newbies

Vipers picked England’s Aneurin Donald, an explosive batter who also can hold wicket. Donald’s T20 strike price of 171.33 is similar to these of Finn Allen, Mitch Owen and Abhishek Sharma.

Donald’s compatriot James Coles might be in line for an ILT20 debut as effectively after placing in spectacular performances within the SA20 for Sunrisers Jap Cape and within the Hundred for London Spirit. Coles was picked by MI Emirates for USD 100,000.

The OG Pollard – Kieron – was not a part of the public sale shortlist however the different Pollard – Jakeem – earned a gig with ADKR, the place he’ll work with coach Dwayne Bravo. As Trinbago Knight Riders’ head coach, Bravo had a front-row seat to Jakeem’s rise in CPL 2026, the place the left-arm fast generated steepling bounce.

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

“Bravo has been taking part in this sport for a very long time,” de Silva informed Cricinfo in August. “He has expertise, particularly taking part in for Chennai Tremendous Kings within the IPL. Undoubtedly [I will gain] extra [knowledge] of ways, extra expertise and extra sport consciousness from him, which will probably be large for my profession going ahead.”

Squads

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders

Public sale 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

Public sale 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

Public sale 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 Wooden (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

Public sale 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

Public sale 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

Public sale 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