International League T20

The International League T20 is a professional T20 cricket league held in the United Arab Emirates. The competition is sanctioned by the Emirates Cricket Board and features six franchise teams. The Gulf Giants won the inaugural season in 2023, followed by MI Emirates in 2024, Dubai Capitals in 2025, and the Desert Vipers in the 2026 season.
The ILT20 allows a higher number of overseas players than most T20 leagues, with up to nine overseas players permitted in a playing XI. Each team must also include at least one player from the UAE and one player from an Associate Member nation in the playing XI.

History

The league was officially announced by the Emirates Cricket Board in June 2022 as a professional Twenty20 franchise league based in the United Arab Emirates. The league was initially planned to begin in early 2023, with its first season window announced in June 2022. However, due to scheduling conflicts and organisational preparations, the inaugural edition was later rescheduled and eventually held from 13 January to 12 February 2023.
The league was created with the aim of establishing a world-class T20 tournament and positioning the UAE as a major destination on the global cricket calendar. The tournament featured six city-based franchises, several of which were owned by companies that also own teams in other major leagues such as the Indian Premier League, including ownership links to Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Delhi Capitals.
The ILT20 adopted a distinctive squad composition policy, allowing teams to field up to nine overseas players in a playing XI, significantly higher than most other franchise leagues. To support domestic cricket development, each team was required to include at least two UAE players in their squad.
Although the tournament initially did not have official status because the Emirates Cricket Board is an Associate member of the International Cricket Council, the ILT20 became the first Associate member–run franchise league to be granted List A status by the ICC in December 2023. As a result, all matches and player statistics are officially recognised.
The inaugural season was won by Gulf Giants, who defeated Desert Vipers in the final.

2023 (1st edition)

2024 (2nd edition)

The second edition of the tournament will kick off on 19 January and end on 17 February.
The first 2 seasons accumulated 340 Million views globally. 108 million people tuned in from across India even though attendance was low.
The second ILT20 season was won by MI Emirates defeated Dubai Capitals by 45 runs to win the title.

2025 (3rd edition)

2025–26 (4th edition)

The fourth season of the International League T20 began on 2 December 2025, earlier than usual to avoid a clash with the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup in February. The tournament will conclude on 4 January 2026.
For the 2025–26 season, the ILT20 adopted a player auction format for the first time, replacing the draft system used in previous years. The auction is scheduled to take place in Dubai on 1 October 2025. Each team had already made retentions and direct signings earlier in the year, and was allowed to spend up to USD 800,000 during the auction, with an overall squad budget ranging from USD 1.5 million to USD 2 million.

Organisation

Trophy

The ILT20 Trophy was designed and made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte. Unveiled in October 2022, the trophy's design is intended to reflect the spirit of the league and the heritage and culture of the UAE. The trophy measures 830mm in height, directly proportional to the 830m Burj Khalifa. The falcon is the UAE’s national bird, and its teardrop shape makes up the trophy’s form, while the seven Emirates that make up the UAE form a seven-pointed crown. Inspired by the shape of the sands of Tel Moreeb, the finial sits on top of the trophy holding a cricket ball.

Teams

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	Gulf Giants won by 7 wickets	Desert Vipers 146/8	6	Chris Jordan
2024	Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai	MI Emirates 208/3	MI Emirates won by 45 runs	Dubai Capitals 163/7	6	Sikandar Raza
2025	Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai	Dubai Capitals 191/6	Dubai Capitals won by 4 wickets	Desert Vipers 189/5	6	Sam Curran
2025–26	Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai	Desert Vipers 182/4	Desert Vipers won by 46 runs	MI Emirates 136	6	Sam Curran

Grounds

Teams' performances

Season	2023	2024	2025	2025–26
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders	6th	4th	6th	3rd
Dubai Capitals	4th	RU	C	4th
Desert Vipers	RU	5th	RU	C
Gulf Giants	C	3rd	5th	5th
MI Emirates	3rd	C	4th	RU
Sharjah Warriorz	5th	6th	3rd	6th

Champions
'''Runners Up'''
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, which will be significantly higher than the four or five overseas-player-limit of other major T20 leagues. Two players on each team must be a UAE player and a player from an Associate Member nation respectively.
Teams can use a substitute, termed a "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.
Controversy

There has been some controversy around the ILT20's plan to only require one local 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. Attendance was low due to lack of participation of Indian cricketers.

Records and Statistics

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.. The events are attended by international celebrities and cricket legends every year.

Territory/Region	Channel
Afghanistan	Ariana Television
Australia	Fox Cricket
Bangladesh	Nagorik TV T Sports Toffee
Caribbean	Rush Sports
India	Zee
Maldives	Medianet
Middle East and North Africa	Abu Dhabi Sports Dubai Sports
Nepal	Styx Sports Sim TV Nepal Net TV Nepal
New Zealand	Sky Sports NZ
Pakistan	TAPMAD PTV Sports Geo Super A Sports
Sri Lanka	&flix Supreme TV
UAE	Abu Dhabi Sports TV Dubai Sports TV Myco
United Kingdom	BT Sport Zee TV Sky Sports
North America	Willow TV

Source: ILT20