In a move questioned by the tournament’s franchises, ILT20 has stipulated that all six teams will need to recruit a minimum of four players from Afghanistan and one from Ireland in their squads from the 2026 season. ILT20 has also told franchises that playing XIs will need to include a minimum of two players each from Afghanistan and UAE and one from an Associate nation.
In the Player Contracting Model document, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, the ILT20 has said while the squad should comprise a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 23 players, teams will also need to fulfil the following minimum requirements in the squad composition: 11 players from 12 Full Member countries, four UAE players (including at least one capped player and at least one Under-23 player) , two players from the Gulf Cooperation Council comprising six countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain) and one player from an Associate (not UAE, Saudi or Kuwait). These minimum requirements, ILT20 told franchises, were part of the “Mandatory Players” category.
It is understood ILT20 enforced the new regulations primarily as a response to concerns over player availability over the first four seasons of the tournament, which emanated primarily due to a scheduling clash with other T20 leagues including SA20 and the BBL. ILT20 did not clash with SA20 last season, and this will be the case again later this year, but it will run parallel to the BBL for a brief period.
The other main factor is understood to be member boards imposing caps on number of T20 leagues their players can feature in. So far Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have restricted the number of T20 leagues their players can play in. The ICC, too, has been concerned by the growing shadow of T20 leagues over international cricket for more than a decade. In a media release after its last round of meetings at the end of May, the ICC said it was forming a committee to “assess harmonisation of franchise cricket with international calendar within the current structure”, with the ICC Board concerned by the “growing expanse” of T20 leagues.
It is learned ILT20 has been worried that if more Full Member countries decide to not issue no-objection certificates to their players in the future, it will impact a tournament that is already fighting for the best talent in a highly competitive market. The presence of players from Full Member countries plays a significant role for tournaments like ILT20, which is run by an Associate in the Emirates Cricket Board. The presence of good players from Full Member countries enhances the commercial rights of Associate-run T20 leagues and hence, to protect itself from losing out on a volume of players from Full Member countries, it is understood ILT20 has reached agreements with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and Cricket Ireland to allow their players to play in the UAE-based league. The five players from both countries – four from Afghanistan and one from Ireland – in each squad can be capped or uncapped.
This is not the first time ILT20 has spoken to a Full-Member board to commit to allow their players to feature in the tournament. It is understood that ahead of the inaugural season of ILT20 in 2022, it had reached an agreement with Cricket West Indies to provide NOCs to Caribbean players and treat it as their preferred T20 league. But that agreement did not have any condition on the number of players who would be allowed to play ILT20.
The six franchises expressed strong concerns over the new stipulations, with one of their main reservations being they would end up with below-par squads in case top players from more established countries did not want to play ILT20 if they were not getting their desired financial rewards. Officials ESPNcricinfo spoke to said that, with nearly half the playing XI needing to be players from a combination of Afghanistan, UAE and Associates, as per the new ILT20 stipulation, they wouldn’t have the freedom to pick the best XI or recruit whoever they wanted.
ILT20 is among the three T20 leagues where more than the ICC-stipulated four overseas players feature in the playing XI. Till 2025-26 season the ILT20 allowed nine overseas players along with two UAE players. Franchises highlighted that the new mandatory rules could set a dangerous precedent in case ILT20 signed similar agreements with other countries in future.
Franchise officials felt it would have been better for ILT20 to consult them before the new rules were sent to them. More than one person suggested that the ILT20 was already doing many things right, including building itself up into the one-stop T20 league in the Gulf by allowing exposure to players from several countries in the region. Accordingly, in the near future, the ILT20 could become a hub without there being a set of splintered T20 leagues in the Gulf.
Franchises also said that while they understood ILT20 was securing player availability from Full Member countries, several would end up not playing, and that would only chew into already tight budgets.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo
