The 2025–26 International League T20, also known as DP World ILT20 2025–26 for sponsorship reasons, was the fourth season of the International League T20, a professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United Arab Emirates, organised by the Emirates Cricket Board. This edition of the tournament started on 2 December 2025 and the final was played on 4 January 2026. Dubai Capitals were the defending champions.
In the final, Desert Vipers defeated MI Emirates by 46 runs to win their maiden title.
Background The fourth season of the International League T20 (ILT20) began on 2 December 2025, UAE National Day – which was one of the most important days on the UAE calendar, earlier than usual to avoid clash with the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup in February. The tournament was concluded on 4 January 2026. The revised schedule also helped to reduce overlap with other T20 leagues like SA20, Big Bash League, and BPL.
Player auction
The teams had a purse of US$2 million, out of which US$1.2 million could be used for retention and direct signings. USD 800,000 and any leftover amount from retention and direct signings can be used in auction, with a minimum of US$1.5 million needed to be spend.
Each franchise is allowed to build a squad of 19 to 21 players, excluding wildcard picks. Squad composition rules require a minimum of 11 players from ICC Full Member nations, four from the UAE, one each from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and two from other Associate Member countries. Teams are also permitted to sign up to two wildcard players after the auction, with a separate budget of US$250,000 for such additions.
The player auction was held in Jumeirah, Dubai on 1 October 2025. Zee Entertainment (Zee5) has been awarded as the Global Broadcast Partner for the 2025-26 ILT20 - International League T20.
Squads
Retained players were announced on 7 July 2025.
The squads of all teams are as below: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders Desert Vipers Dubai Capitals Gulf Giants MI Emirates Sharjah Warriorz Captain Jason Holder Lockie Ferguson Dasun Shanaka James Vince Kieron Pollard Tim Southee Players Abdul Manan Ali Adnan Idrees Ajay Kumar Alex Hales Alishan Sharafu Andre Russell Brandon McMullen George Garton Ibrar Ahmad Khary Pierre Liam Livingstone
Michael Pepper (wk) Olly Stone Phil Salt (wk) Piyush Chawla Shadley van Schalkwyk Sherfane Rutherford Sunil Narine Unmukt Chand (wk) Andries Gous (wk) Bilal Tahir Dan Lawrence David Payne Faisal Khan Fakhar Zaman
Hassan Nawaz Khuzaima Tanveer Matiullah Khan Max Holden Naseem Shah Noor Ahmad Qais Ahmad Sam Curran Sanjay Pahal Shimron Hetmyer Tawanda Muyeye Tom Bruce Vriitya Aravind (wk) Anudeep Chenthamara Akshay Wakhare David Willey Farhan Khan Gulbadin Naib Haider Ali James Neesham Jordan Cox (wk) Leus du Plooy Mohammad Nabi Muhammad Farooq
Mustafizur Rahman Navin Bidaisee Ritesh Grandhi Rovman Powell Rushil Ugarkar Scott Currie Sediqullah Atal Shayan Jahangir (wk) Toby Albert Tymal Mills Usman Najeeb Waqar Salamkheil Aayan Afzal Khan Asif Khan Azmatullah Omarzai Blessing Muzarabani Chris Wood Fred Klaassen Gerhard Erasmus Haider Razzaq Ishtiaq Ahmad Kyle Mayers Liam Dawson Lorcan Tucker (wk) Matthew Forde Mark Adair Meet Bhavsar Moeen Ali Muhammad Zuhaib
Ramon Simmonds Sean Dickson Tabraiz Shamsi Tom Moores (wk) Maaz Sadaqat Ackeem Auguste AM Ghazanfar Andre Fletcher Arab Gul Momand Chris Woakes Fazalhaq Farooqi Jonny Bairstow (wk) Jordan Thompson Kamindu Mendis Mohamed Shafeeq
Muhammad Waseem Naveen-ul-Haq Nicholas Pooran (wk) Nosthush Kenjige Romario Shepherd Shakib Al Hasan Tajinder Singh Tom Banton (wk) Zahoor Khan Zain Ul Abidin Usman Khan Shinwari Abdul Salman Khan Adil Rashid Dinesh Karthik (wk) Dwaine Pretorius Ethan D'Souza Harmeet Singh James Rew (wk) Jayden Seales Johnson Charles (wk) Junaid Siddique Kusal Mendis (wk) Maheesh Theekshana Matheesha Pathirana Mohammed Aslam Nathan Sowter Raees Ahmed Ayan Richard Ngarava Saurabh Netravalkar Shubham Ranjane Sikandar Raza Taskin Ahmed Tim David Tom Abell
Wasim Akram Faheem Ashraf Replacement players Jason Roy
Kaleem Sana Mustafizur Rahman Ali Khan Jordan Clark Nuwan Thushara Pathum Nissanka Rashid Khan
Venues
United Arab Emirates Dubai Sharjah Abu Dhabi Dubai International Cricket Stadium Sharjah Cricket Stadium Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium Capacity: 25,000 Capacity: 16,000 Capacity: 20,000
Teams and standings Points table
Match summary
League stage
Playoffs Bracket
Qualifier 1
Eliminator
Qualifier 2
Final
Statistics +Most runsRunsPlayerTeam 397 Sam Curran Desert Vipers 370 Muhammad Waseem MI Emirates 359 Max Holden Desert Vipers 327 Tom Banton MI Emirates 321 Jordan Cox Dubai CapitalsSource: ESPNcricinfo
+Most wicketsWicketsPlayerTeam18 Waqar Salamkheil Dubai Capitals Ajay Kumar Abu Dhabi Knight Riders17 Khuzaima Tanveer Desert Vipers David Payne Desert Vipers15 Jason Holder Abu Dhabi Knight Riders Source: ESPNcricinfo
+End of season awards Award Winner TeamMost Valuable Player Sam CurranDesert VipersBest UAE playerMuhammad WaseemMI Emirates
Notes
References
External links Tournament home at ESPNcricinfo