UAE T20 LEAGUE 2023

How To Play

The United Arab Emirates is all set for hosting its first-ever T20 tournament, the UAE T20 cricket league this year. The league will begin on January 13, 2023 and run for a month ending on February 12th, 2023. Six franchises will participate in the first edition of the competition and battle for the coveted league championship.

The participating teams are Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, MI Emirates, Gulf Giants, Sharjah Warriors, and Desert Vipers. Moreover, Zee Entertainment Enterprises India has the broadcasting rights of the league.

UAE T20 League Teams and Squads

The league aims to provide exposure and unearth future UAE talent while also providing high-quality cricket to the local population. It has some unique features, including a requirement in each franchise can have up to 12 overseas players in an 18-man squad, at least four of whom must be UAE nationals.

A playing XI can have a maximum of 9 overseas players along with at least one UAE and one Associate player. The UAE league includes six franchises with 18-man squads. Each team will play each other twice in a league stage, followed by four play-off matches for a total of 34 games.

Therefore, we have compiled the squad list of each team to help you gain more insight into teams participating in the tournament.

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders

  • Sunil Narine
  • Ali Khan
  • Charith Asalanka
  • Marchant de Lange
  • Dhananjaya de Silva
  • Connor Esterhuizen
  • Fahad Nawaz
  • Brandon Glover
  • Akeal Hosein
  • Colin Ingram
  • Lahiru Kumara
  • Kennar Lewis
  • Treveen Mathew
  • Matiullah Khan
  • Ravi Rampaul
  • Raymon Reifer
  • Andre Russell
  • Sabir Ali
  • Paul Stirling
  • Zawar Farid

Desert Vipers Squad

  • Colin Munro
  • Ali Naseer
  • Gus Atkinson
  • Sam Billings
  • Dinesh Chandimal
  • Sheldon Cottrell
  • Tom Curran
  • Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva
  • Alex Hales
  • Benny Howell
  • Jake Lintott
  • Adam Lyth
  • Tymal Mills
  • Ronak Panoly
  • Matheesha Pathirana
  • Rohan Mustafa
  • Sherfane Rutherford
  • Shiraz Ahmed
  • Ruben Trumpelmann
  • Mark Watt

Dubai Capitals Squad

  • Rovman Powell
  • Akif Raja
  • Fabian Allen
  • Ravi Bopara
  • Chirag Suri
  • Niroshan Dickwella
  • Jash Giyanani
  • Hazrat Luqman
  • Hazratullah Zazai
  • Chamika Karunaratne
  • Fred Klaassen
  • Dan Lawrence
  • Mujeeb Ur Rahman
  • Yusuf Pathan
  • Bhanuka Rajapaksa
  • Joe Root
  • Dasun Shanaka
  • Sikandar Raza
  • Isuru Udana
  • Robin Uthappa
  • Ollie White
  • George Munsey

Gulf Giants Squad

  • James Vince
  • Aayan Afzal Khan
  • Tom Banton
  • Liam Dawson
  • Dominic Drakes
  • Gerhard Erasmus
  • Richard Gleeson
  • Tom Helm
  • Shimron Hetmyer
  • Chris Jordan
  • Chris Lynn
  • Jamie Overton
  • Ollie Pope
  • Qais Ahmad
  • Rehan Ahmed
  • Chundangapoyil Rizwan
  • Sanchit Sharma
  • Ashwant Valthapa
  • David Wiese

MI Emirates Squad

  • Kieron Pollard
  • Vriitya Aravind
  • Basil Hameed
  • Trent Boult
  • Dwayne Bravo
  • McKenny Clarke
  • Bas de Leede
  • Fazalhaq Farooqi
  • Andre Fletcher
  • Imran Tahir
  • Tom Lammonby
  • Dan Mousley
  • Muhammad Waseem
  • Najibullah Zadran
  • Craig Overton
  • Samit Patel
  • Nicholas Pooran
  • Will Smeed
  • Jordan Thompson
  • Lorcan Tucker
  • Brad Wheal
  • Zahir Khan
  • Zahoor Khan

Sharjah Warriors Squad

  • Moeen Ali
  • Chris Benjamin
  • Bilal Khan
  • Joe Denly
  • Mark Deyal
  • Junaid Siddique
  • Tom Kohler-Cadmore
  • Evin Lewis
  • Dawid Malan
  • Karthik Meiyappan
  • Mohammad Nabi
  • Naveen-ul-Haq
  • Noor Ahmad
  • Rahmanullah Gurbaz
  • Alishan Sharafu
  • Marcus Stoinis
  • Paul Walter
  • Chris Woakes

UAE T20 League and Tournament Format

The UAE T20 League season 1 (known as the IL T20 2023) is a Twenty20 cricket league organized by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). It will be held from January 13, 2023, to February 12, 2023. Six franchises will be competing against each other in a round-robin format during the league matches. After the league matches, three playoff matches will take place to decide the finalists of the tournament. It will be followed by the tournament final on February 12, 2023, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, marking the formal end of the tournaments.

UAE T20 League 2023 Venue

The Emirates Cricket Board will host the inaugural International T20 league from January 13 to February 12, 2023, with three Indian T20 Premier League franchises owning outfits in the six-team league. Six teams in the Dubai t20 league will compete in a 34-match schedule at UAE's famous venues.

The much-anticipated league has been named the International T20 league. It will be played in three different venues the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sharjah Cricket Stadium, in Sharjah. 

UAE T20 League FAQs

ZEE and the UAE’s T20 League announced a long-term global media rights contract on May 24, 22. The Dubai T20 league will air on ZEE’s Indian and global channels, as well as on its OTT platform ZEE5.

The ILT20 will have 34 matches with all teams playing each other twice before four playoffs. The tournament will be played in three venues: Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

H3 - Why is the ILT20 League the Second Most Lucrative for Cricketers after the Indian Premier League?

The United Arab Emirates T20 league is offering David Warner a three-year contract reportedly worth 17 crore rupees. This is more than double what the Big Bash League pays and Warner has asked for the NOC to play in the UAE league instead of BBL.

David Warner has asked for a NOC from Cricket Australia so that he is exempted from BBL duties and gets to play in the ILT20 in UAE.

Khalid Al Zarooni is the chairman of ILT20 and in his first stint as a chairman, he hopes to make the ILT20 a big occasion that will attract enough foreign players.