ILT20 Season 5 Desert Vipers To Begin Title Defence From November 21 vs MI Emirates

Defending champions Desert Vipers will take on last year's finalists and Season 2 champions MI Emirates in the opening match of the DP World International League T20 Season 5 at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday, 21st November. The first ball will be delivered at 6:30pm – all the tournament's evening matches will start at the same time.  The season's second fixture will be a clash between the Sharjah Warriorz and Season 1 champions Gulf Giants – the fixture will be the season's first match at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium and will be played from 2:00pm on Sunday, 22 November (all afternoon matches will start at the same time). Season 3 champions Dubai Capitals will launch their title hunt against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at their home venue – the Dubai International Stadium – the second match of the Super Sunday double-header. 

Abu Dhabi will host its first match on Thursday, 26 November, when Abu Dhabi Knight Riders take on MI Emirates at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

The DP World ILT20 will celebrate the UAE National Day (Eid Al Etihad) on 2 December amid the traditional festivities with a double-header cricketing extravaganza. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders will host the Desert Vipers at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in the afternoon clash while Dubai Capitals will host MI Emirates at the Dubai International Stadium in the evening clash. 

Each team will play 10 matches in the double round-robin 34-match tournament. At the end of the 30-match group stage, the top four teams in the points table will progress to the four-match playoffs which will culminate with the Season 5 final at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, 20 December 2026. The 30-day competition will feature six days of double-header action.

A total of 15 tournament matches will be played at the Dubai International Stadium. Abu Dhabi's Zayed Cricket Stadium will play host to 11 matches and Sharjah Cricket Stadium will take the centre stage for eight fixtures.

DP World ILT20 Season 5 will feature some of the game's biggest stars, including Moeen Ali, Usman Tariq and Finn Allen (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Babar Azam, Shimron Hetmyer and Naseem Shah (Desert Vipers), Faf du Plessis, Marcus Stoinis and Mustafizur Rahman (Dubai Capitals), Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone and David Miller (Gulf Giants), Rashid Khan, Nicholas Pooran and Fazalhaq Farooqi (MI Emirates), and Mohammad Nabi, Sikandar Raza and Adil Rashid (Sharjah Warriorz).

DP World International League T20 Season 5 – Tournament schedule – all timings are local timings – Gulf Standard Time
Saturday, 21 November – Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates – 6:30pm, Dubai
Sunday, 22 November – Sharjah Warriorz vs Gulf Giants – 2:00pm, Sharjah 
Sunday, 22 November – Dubai Capitals vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Monday, 23 November – Sharjah Warriorz vs Desert Vipers – 6:30pm, Sharjah 
Tuesday, 24 November – Gulf Giants vs MI Emirates – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Wednesday, 25 November – Dubai Capitals vs Desert Vipers – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Thursday, 26 November – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs MI Emirates – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi 
Friday, 27 November – Sharjah Warriorz vs Dubai Capitals – 6:30pm, Sharjah
Saturday, 28 November – MI Emirates vs Desert Vipers – 2:00pm, Abu Dhabi
Saturday, 28 November – Gulf Giants vs Dubai Capitals – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Sunday, 29 November – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Sharjah Warriorz – 2:00pm, Abu Dhabi 
Sunday, 29 November – Desert Vipers vs Gulf Giants – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Monday, 30 November – MI Emirates vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi 
Tuesday, 1 December – Gulf Giants vs Sharjah Warriorz – 6:30pm, Sharjah
Wednesday, 2 December – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Desert Vipers – 2:00pm, Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, 2 December – Dubai Capitals vs MI Emirates – 6:30pm, Dubai
Thursday, 3 December – Gulf Giants vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders – 6:30pm, Dubai
Friday, 4 December – Desert Vipers vs Sharjah Warriorz – 6:30pm, Sharjah
Saturday, 5 December – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Gulf Giants – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi
Sunday, 6 December – MI Emirates vs Sharjah Warriorz – 2:00pm, Abu Dhabi
Sunday, 6 December – Desert Vipers vs Dubai Capitals – 6:30pm, Dubai
Monday, 7 December – MI Emirates vs Gulf Giants – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, 8 December – Dubai Capitals vs Sharjah Warriorz – 6:30pm, Dubai
Wednesday, 9 December – Sharjah Warriorz vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders – 6:30pm, Sharjah
Thursday, 10 December – Dubai Capitals vs Gulf Giants – 6:30pm, Dubai
Friday, 11 December – Sharjah Warriorz vs MI Emirates – 6:30pm, Sharjah 
Saturday, 12 December – Desert Vipers vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders – 6:30pm, Dubai
Sunday, 13 December – MI Emirates vs Dubai Capitals – 2:00pm, Abu Dhabi
Sunday, 13 December – Gulf Giants vs Desert Vipers – 6:30pm, Dubai
Monday, 14 December – Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Dubai Capitals – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi 
Wednesday, 16 December – Qualifier 1: Seed 1 vs Seed 2 – 6:30pm, Abu Dhabi
Thursday, 17 December – Eliminator: Seed 3 vs Seed 4 – 6:30pm, Dubai 
Friday, 18 December – Qualifier 2: Loser of Q1 vs Winner of Eliminator – 6:30pm, Sharjah
Sunday, 20 December – Final: Winner of Q1 vs Winner of Q2 – 6:30pm, Dubai 

DP World ILT20 Season 5 Squads
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
Auction Signings: Alishan Sharafu, Amshi De Silva, Muhammad Rohid, Moeen Ali, Arab Gul, Usman Tariq, Gulbadin Naib, Ibrar Ahmed, Andre Fletcher, Ajay Kumar, Colin Munro, Michael Pepper, Qais Ahmad, Jakeem Pollard, Abdul Mannan Ali, Ravija Sandaruwan, Abdullah Tarakhail, Lorcan Tucker

Pre-Auction Signings: Finn Allen, Jason Holder, Matthew Tromp, Sunil Narine

Desert Vipers
Auction Signings: David Payne, Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah, Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Khuzaima Bin Tanveer, Vriitya Aravind, Aneurin Donald, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Joe Clarke, Nangeyalia Kharote, Sanjay Pahal, Harry Tector, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Nilansh Keswani, Saleem Safi, Bilal Tahir, Wali Muhammad

Pre-Auction Signings: Andries Gous, Dan Lawrence, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Shimron Hetmyer

Dubai Capitals
Auction Signings: Faf du Plessis, Max Holden, Dasun Shanaka, Aayan Khan, Hassan Khan, Phil Salt, Sediqullah Atal, Mark Adair, Karim Janat, Luke Wood, Tom Moores, Haider Ali, Zuhaib Zubair, Darwish Rasooli, Muhammad Arfan, Matt Potts, Usman Najeeb, Anudeep Chenthamara, Masood Ul Rahman Gurbaz

Pre-Auction Signings: Marcus Stoinis, Mustafizur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Rovman Powell

Gulf Giants
Auction Signings: Liam Livingstone, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, David Wiese, Ibrahim Zadran, Tabraiz Shamsi, Curtis Campher, Dhruv Parashar, Matiullah Khan, Haider Razzaq, Imran Mir, Imtiaz Khan, Meet Bhavsar, Shubham Ranjane, Wahidullah Zadran, Awais Ahmed, Sagar Kalyan, Alick Athanaze

Pre-Auction Signings: Azmatullah Omarzai, Blessing Muzarabani, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen

MI Emirates
Auction Signings: Fazalhaq Farooqi, Muhammad Waseem, Chris Jordan, Allah Ghazanfar, Lizaad Williams, James Coles, Jonny Bairstow, Kusal Perera, Jordan Thompson, Zahoor Khan, Wasim Akram, Zain Ul Abidin, Muhammad Shafeeq, Asa Tribe, Raizal Nadir Nather Shah, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Ross Adair

Pre-Auction Signings: Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford

Sharjah Warriorz
Auction Signings: Richard Gleeson, Mohammad Nabi, Paul Walter, Adil Rashid, Brandon McMullen, Tom Banton, Craig Overton, George Linde, Ali Aamer Naseer, Fareed Malik, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Logan van Beek, Junaid Siddique, Tanish Suri, Nabeel Aziz, George Dockrell, Mohammad Saqib, Arunraj Selvaraj, James Rew

Pre-Auction Signings: Adam Milne, James Vince, Waqar Salamkheil, Sikandar Raza

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