International League T20

The International League T20 (ILT20), also endorsed as the DP World ILT20 for sponsorship reasons, is a T20 cricket tournament being played in the United Arab Emirates. It is sanctioned by Emirates Cricket Board.^[1][2]

International League T20

Administrator	Emirates Cricket Board
Format	Twenty20
First edition	2023
Latest edition	2024
Next edition	2025
Tournament format	Round-robin and playoffs
Number of teams	6
Host	United Arab Emirates
Current champion	MI Emirates (1st title)
Most successful	Gulf Giants MI Emirates (1 title each)
Most runs	James Vince (795)
Most wickets	Chris Jordan (31)
Website	www.ilt20.ae

The first edition of the tournament was originally scheduled to take place during January and February 2023, but it was rescheduled to take place from January 2024, with six teams competing.^[3] In June 2022, the league was formally named the International League T20, with the dates for the first season also being confirmed.^[4]

Matches in Season 1 were played using standard Twenty20 formats, statistics were not included in official records because Emirates Cricket Board is not a full-member of the International Cricket Council.

ILT20 becomes first Associate-run franchise league to get 'official' List-A status in December 2023.^[5]

Overview

The International League T20 (ILT20) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United Arab Emirates. The league was founded in 2022 and is sanctioned by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). The inaugural season of the ILT20 took place from January 13 to February 12, 2023, with six teams competing. The teams were: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Desert Vipers, Gulf Giants, MI Emirates, Sharjah Warriors

The ILT20 is played in a double round-robin format, with each team playing each other team twice. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs consist of a semi-final, a third-place play-off, and a final.

The first ILT20 season was won by the Gulf Giants, who defeated Desert Vipers in the final. The tournament was a success, with good crowds and positive feedback from players and fans. The ILT20 is expected to become a major cricket league in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East. The league has a number of rules designed to help young players develop, such as a requirement that each team must have at least two players under the age of 23.

Franchises owners as Knight Riders Group, Reliance Industries, GMR Group along with Lancer Capitals, Adani Group and Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd were announced as owners of the teams.^[6][7] Three original IPL franchises owners (i.e. the owners of Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals) also got the chance to sign up to four players from their current IPL squads.^[8]

Background

The UAE-based ILT20, one of the major franchise-run T20 leagues around the world despite being just a season old because of the quality of players it has attracted, has been given List A status by the ICC just over a month off the start of its second season. It's the first T20 league run by the board of an Associate nation to be given the status.^[5]

What it means is that the tournament will now be recognised as an official T20 tournament, with all tournament statistics given official status. In a statement, the ILT20 called the update "a major milestone" and a "major boost".

"Earning the List A status is a major milestone for the DP World International League T20. We would like to thank the ICC for the acknowledgment," David White, chief executive of the league, said. "The recognition is a clear indication of the strength and stature of our league."

The second edition of the tournament will kick off on January 19 and end on February 17.^[9][10]

Teams

Team		Captain	Owner	Head coach
	Abu Dhabi Knight Riders	Sunil Narine	Knight Riders Group	Bharat Arun
	Desert Vipers	Colin Munro	Lancer Capital LLC	James Foster
	Dubai Capitals	David Warner	GMR Group	Phil Simmons
	Gulf Giants	James Vince	Adani Group	Andy Flower
	MI Emirates	Nicholas Pooran	Indiawin Sports	Robin Singh
	Sharjah Warriors	Tom Kohler-Cadmore	Capri Global Holdings	Johan Botha

Tournament results

Season	Final venue	Winners	Result	Runners-up	No. of teams	Player of the series
2023	Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai	Gulf Giants 149/3 (18.4 overs)	Gulf Giants won by 7 wickets Scorecard	Desert Vipers 146/8 (20 overs)	6	Chris Jordan (GG)
2024		MI Emirates 208/3 (20 overs)	MI Emirates won by 45 runs Scorecard	Dubai Capitals 163/7 (20 overs)		Sikandar Raza (DC)

Teams' performances

Season	2023	2024
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders	6th	4th
Dubai Capitals	4th	RU
Desert Vipers	RU	5th
Gulf Giants	C	3rd
MI Emirates	3rd	C
Sharjah Warriors	5th	6th

•   Champions
•   Runners Up
•   PO: team qualified for the playoffs

Ground

United Arab Emirates
Dubai	Sharjah	Abu Dhabi
Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium
Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 16,000	Capacity: 20,000
Dubai Sharjah Abu Dhabi

Rules

The ILT20 has a number of rules which vary from the established Laws of cricket or those used in other Twenty20 leagues:

• Nine out of eleven players on each team can be overseas players,^[11] which will be significantly higher than the four or five overseas-player-limit of other major T20 leagues.^[12] Two players on each team must be a UAE player and a player from an Associate Member nation respectively.^[11]
• Teams can use a substitute, termed an "Super Sub", from a list of Seven players named as possible substitutes. The substitution can be made before the start of innings, when a wicket falls, when a batter retires, or at the end of an over. Both teams can introduce a substitute once per match.

Reactions

There has been some controversy around the ILT20's plan to only require one local (UAE) player in the playing XI of each team, with several Full Members calling for regulations requiring a higher minimum number of local players in the ILT20 and other T20 leagues.^[13] 108 million people tuned in from across India even though attendance was low.^[14] Attendance was low due to lack of participation of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani cricketers.^[15]

Records and Statistics

Main article: List of International League T20 records and statistics

Batting Records
Most runs	James Vince (GG)	795
Highest average	Kieron Pollard (MIE)	68.28
Highest score	Alex Hales (DV)	110 (59) vs Knight Riders (20 January 2023)
Highest partnership	Alex Hales & Colin Munro (DV)	164 vs Knight Riders (20 January 2023)
Most sixes	Nicholas Pooran (MIE)	54
Most fifties	James Vince (GG)	8
Bowling Records
Most wickets	Chris Jordan (GG)	31
Best strike rate	Muhammad Rohid	10.66
Best economy rate	Adam Zampa	4.75
Fielding Records
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Nicholas Pooran (MIE)	14
Most catches (fielder)	Chris Jordan (GG)	15
	Trent Boult (MIE)
Other Records
Most matches	Sam Billings (DC/DV)	25
Most matches as captain	James Vince (GG)	23
Team Records
Highest total	MI Emirates	241/3 (20) vs Vipers (29 January 2023)
Lowest total	Sharjah Warriors	74 (12.1) vs Emirates (26 January 2024)

^{Last updated on 24 June 2024}

*Batting: At least 250 balls must be faced
*Bowling: At least 60 balls must be bowled

Broadcasters

In May 2021, Essel Group owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises bought the media rights of this league for ten years from 2023 to 2032 at a cost of US$120 million.^[16][17] (Also see approx. $10.2 million a year)

International Broadcasters^[18]

Territory/Region	Channel
Afghanistan	Ariana Television
Australia	Fox Cricket
Bangladesh	Nagorik TV T Sports Toffee[19]
Caribbean	Rush Sports
India	Zee Cinema Zee Anmol Cinema Zee Zest Zee Thirai Zee Bangla Cinema &Pictures &Flix Sony Sports Network 2025-32 (merger with ZEE) Zee5 (Live Streaming Free)
Maldives	Medianet
MENA	Cricbuzz
Nepal	Sim TV Nepal Net TV Nepal
New Zealand	Sky Sports NZ
Pakistan	PTV Sports Geo Super A Sports
Sri Lanka	Supreme TV
United Kingdom	BT Sport Zee TV Sky Sports
United States	Willow TV
Canada

References

1. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "KKR, Mumbai Indians set to become franchise owners in UAE-based Premier League T20". ESPN Cricinfo.
2. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "UAE'S PREMIER LEAGUE T20 SETS DATES AND UNVEILS TOURNAMENT LOGO". Emirates Cricket Board.
3. "Flush With Cash And Influential Backing, The UAE's New T20 League Is Set To Shake Up Cricket Globally". Forbes.
4. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "UAE T20 league announces early-2023 window, set for clash of dates with BBL, BPL and CSA league". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
5. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "ILT20 becomes first Associate-run franchise league to get 'official' List-A status". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
6. "Shah Rukh Khan Leads Acquisition of Abu Dhabi Knight Riders Cricket Franchise". Variety. 12 May 2022.
7. "Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer buys franchise in new UAE T20 cricket league". Sky Sports.
8. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "IPL franchises to have first right to sign their players in UAE T20 league". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
9. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "DP World ILT20 Season 2 to be played between 19 January to 18 February 2024". ilt20.ae. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
10. SAGAR Singh Chauhan. "Gulf Giants, Sharjah Warriors to play ILT20 opener on January 19". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
11. "UAE T20 league sets $450,000 contract for top players". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
12. Laghate, Gaurav. "ZEE signs exclusive media rights deal for Emirates Cricket Board's UAE T20 League". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
13. "Full Members concerned over idea of nine overseas players per XI in UAE league". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
14. "ILT20 Achieves New Milestone: Clocks over 10-crore reach and 2.8 billion minutes across ZEE's 10 linear channels in the first 9 LIVE matches". Zee Business. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
15. Priya (19 January 2023). "Participants in ILT20 are positive about the league". SportsUnfold. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
16. Pinto, Viveat Susan (24 May 2022). "Zee re-enters sports broadcasting, picks up media rights for UAE T20 League". Business Standard India. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
17. SAGAR Singh Chauhan (24 May 2022). "Zee bags media rights for UAE T20 league globally". Business Line. The Hindu. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
18. SAGAR Singh Chauhan (13 January 2023). "ILT20 Broadcasting Channels and Live Streaming Details 2023". Retrieved 13 January 2023.
19. "Toffee exclusively livestreaming International League T20".

External links

• International League T20 official website
• Series home at ESPNcricinfo