Of promise, exposure, and 'belts' - ILT20, 'A League Apart' in more ways than one
The inaugural edition of the International League T20 (ILT20) is set for an epic final on Sunday night. But the first edition showed the league is here to stay.
Over the past few years, the United Arab Emirates played host to a number of global tournaments. When Covid-19 forced the world into lockdown, the UAE came forward to host the first ICC tournament post-pandemic when the T20 World Cup – originally scheduled to take place in India – was shifted to the gulf country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hosted an entire Indian Premier League (IPL) season in UAE in 2020, and also shifted the second half of the 2021 edition to the middle-eastern nation amid rising Covid cases back home.
The UAE had also been home to Pakistan’s senior men’s team when international cricketing action came to a halt in the country in 2008. Despite the consistent presence of world’s leading players, however, the Arab nation never had a substantial success with its own team. UAE has seldom produced an upset in continental cricketing tournaments, and have been mere participants at the T20 World Cups in select editions where they qualified.
But 2023 brought a tournament that could potentially change the cricketing landscape in the country. In a first, the UAE now has a T20 league of its own – the DP World International League T20 – where, unlike other major T20 leagues, local cricketers had significant presence and justifiably so. More importantly, the UAE cricketers had an invaluable opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best players and coaches from around the world. A six-team league that had select owners from franchises also participating in the IPL, the ILT20 could well be a stepping stone for a much-needed boost in UAE cricket.
“At the start, we had some pressure when I was asked to open with such a big player like Alex Hales. With time, I started to feel comfortable with the way these players guided me, and the confidence our coaches infused. When we started to win matches, I started becoming more confident. It’s only when you play consistently with these players when you realise you have those abilities,” Rohan Mustafa, the former captain of UAE who has represented the country in 57 ODIs and 55 T20Is so far, tells Hindustan Times.
Mustafa also mentions the impact it has already had on the younger players who are part of the league.
“I'm old now but the youngsters who are in the U19 team and those who are playing T20… they are gaining that much needed exposure by playing against these top players in the nets. We have youngsters like Ali Naseer, Ayaan (Afzal Khan)… they are quite young and they will get confidence rubbing shoulders with these senior players. Of course, they (international players) are better than us but the difference is not much. I think the major difference is the confidence. If we play with them or against them, it will be good for us. If we continue to play like this, we will get better,” Mustafa says.
No player from UAE currently plays in the Indian Premier League, the Big Bash League, or the Pakistan Super League – three hottest franchise properties in cricket at the moment. Gulf Giants captain James Vince believes this league bridged that gap to a large extent, allowing the local players with a much-needed exposure.
"It has been great. It is a learning curve for them as well. They've been experiencing success in competition and highlights over the areas where they can improve and work on their game. Without them being in this position where they play with top players in the game, it might have been difficult for them to find it out all by themselves. Post-competition, they will have areas where they can improve and come back stronger next year,” Vince said in the pre-final press conference on Saturday.
The Giants face Desert Vipers for the titular clash on Sunday night.
Successful, more than expected
Only two players from India – Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa – participated in the inaugural edition of the ILT20. Moreover, there had been a lack of Pakistani representation in the tournament but according to league’s chief operating officer (COO) Subhan Ahmed, it made little impact on the total viewership.
“We are very satisfied with the progress of the league. The viewership numbers support the statement, where only in India, we've exceeded 175 million viewership,” Ahmed tells Hindustan Timesin an exclusive chat. “For this league, the television ratings have been extremely good. And the quality of sponsors that have associated with our league, the quality of franchise partners that are there, are all signs that this is a quality product, with whom people want to associate,” Ahmed says.
Ahmed had been associated with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for many years and brings with himself a rich experience in cricket operations. But while the TV ratings are impressive, there had been a lack of crowd consistency at the stadium, seemingly due to the lack of Indian and Pakistani diaspora representation.
It’s worth noting that a large part of population in Dubai consists of immigrants from the two nations. Ahmed tells us that he remains in contact with India and Pakistan boards and remains positive on having more faces from both sides for the next edition.
“We continue to engage with all the boards including India and Pakistan, and we are very hopeful that going forward we will have more players from these countries. But we do recognize that there are actually scheduling challenges. Uh, it's a cramped future tours programme. So, the availability of players will remain an issue and a challenge, but we'll definitely try and overcome those in the years to come. And we are very hopeful that in the next event or even thereafter, you will see more players from the two countries,” says the COO.
Ahmed also believes the league can challenge the big-ticket T20 tournaments; the first edition of the ILT20 clashed with SA20 – another inaugural season of South Africa’s franchise T20 league – as well as the Big Bash League in Australia.
“Scheduling challenges will remain because we have only 12 months,” Ahmed admits.
“Out of those 12 months, there are only some seasons that almost seven to eight countries share. It's exactly the same season that we are holding our league in. So, those challenges will remain. I think there are so many quality players still available and that has been demonstrated in our league. A lot of cricketing action is running in parallel but we've still been able to attract quality players. That's demonstrated as I just mentioned in the viewership numbers. People want to watch quality cricket, and that's what we are providing,” says Ahmed.
Belts as trophies!
As soon as one enters the Dubai International Stadium, a hashtag on massive hoardings reads ‘A League Apart’. And while it certainly stands apart as the first-ever franchise T20 league of the UAE, what catches one’s eye is the trophy space besides the boundary line. Alongside the winning team’s trophy are five belts – one each for best batter and bowler, the most valuable player, a championship belt as well as the best UAE player.

“This was an idea that was floated by our team internally, and then we worked on it. We just thought that, as the hashtag says ‘A League Apart’, there has to be something different,” Ahmed tells us.
“We have had medals, we've had caps, different colour caps and so on and so forth (but we needed something different). So, this was an idea that our team internally discussed and we worked on that. We’re able to create something that has gained a lot of interest amongst the cricket-watching public.”
The final of the DP World ILT20 takes place on Sunday night when Desert Vipers meet Gulf Giants; the Vipers secured a direct entry to the final after they had defeated the Giants in Qualifier 1; the latter side, meanwhile beat MI Emirates in the second qualifier to secure a rematch with Colin Munro’s men.
Catch the final game of the inaugural DP World ILT20 on Sunday, February 12, 2023 between Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants only on as well as Zee Cinema SD, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Anmol Cinema, &Pictures HD, &Flix SD, &Flix HD, Zee Zest SD, Zee Zest HD, Zee Bangla Cinema, Zee Thirai.
