MI Emirates bag Farooqi with record bid, Babar heads Vipers' Pakistan contingent

For the second auction in a row, Vipers, owned by American businessman Avram Glazer, stacked up their core with Pakistan players, with no competing bids from the other five franchises. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Sharjah Warriorz, Gulf Giants and MI Emirates have Indian owners and have ignored Pakistan talent across the past two auctions.

Notably, Farooqi is the highest wicket-taker in the ILT20, with 64 strikes in 40 innings at an economy rate of 7.76.

England allrounder Liam Livingstone was the second-biggest buy in the 2026 ILT20 auction, commanding a bid of USD 350,000 from Giants. Livingstone will reunite with Giants' new coach Simon Helmot - the pair previously worked together at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL earlier this year.

Afghanistan players in high demand

Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the only other player to breach the USD 300,000 bracket in the auction. ADKR outbid Vipers to snap up Gurbaz for USD 310,000, but Giants eventually used their Right-to-Match option to bring him back.

With each franchise needing to have at least four players from Afghanistan under the new auction and squad construction rules, their players were in great demand. All up, 25 players from Afghanistan were picked by the six franchises on Thursday.

As for MI Emirates, they used their Right-to-Match option to bring back mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar for USD 150,000, and pair him up with Rashid, who was among their pre-auction signings. Warriorz spent USD 140,000 on 41-year-old Mohammad Nabi, but there were no takers for his son Hassan Eisakhil.

Wahidullah Zadran, who is a bit of a clone of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, returned to Giants. He had played two games for them in the 2024-25 ILT20.

Uncertainty continues over availability of UAE players

While UAE T20I captain Harpreet Singh didn't find any bids, Chennai-born wicketkeeper-batter Vriitya Aravind, who has not played for the national team for more than a year, attracted a bid of USD 70,000 from Vipers. Aravind's T20I strike rate of 112.39 isn't flash, but his price might have been driven up by the potential unavailability of the major UAE players for the ILT20 later this year.

The ILT20 will overlap with the 2027 ODI World Cup Qualifier playoffs. While the ILT20 will be played from November 21 to December 20 in the UAE, the Qualifier playoffs are set to run from December 1 to 22 with the ICC yet to confirm the venue.

It is understood that the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) approached the ICC to check whether the Qualifier playoffs could be moved to January, but was told the global cricket calendar was tightly packed.

Former captain and serial six-hitter Muhammad Waseem, meanwhile, made MI Emirates use their Right-to-Match option on him and have him back for USD 210,000. Waseem is currently not part of the UAE national side, and could be available for the entire ILT20 season.

There were no bids for former India international KS Bharat, who has now moved to the UAE, registering himself as a local wicketkeeper-batter for the ILT20. Bharat participated in the ILT20 development tournament in the lead-up to the auction, but found no takers in the specialists' sets as well as the accelerated sets towards the fag end of the auction.

Meet the ILT20 newbies

Vipers picked England's Aneurin Donald, an explosive batter who can also keep wicket. Donald's T20 strike rate of 171.33 is comparable to those of Finn Allen, Mitch Owen and Abhishek Sharma.

Donald's compatriot James Coles could be in line for an ILT20 debut as well after putting in impressive performances in the SA20 for Sunrisers Eastern Cape and in the Hundred for London Spirit. Coles was picked by MI Emirates for USD 100,000.

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

"Bravo has been playing this game for a long time," de Silva told Cricinfo in August. "He has experience, especially playing for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Definitely [I will gain] more [knowledge] of tactics, more skills and more game awareness from him, which will be huge for my career going forward."

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