Babar Azam, 404 names and three price brackets at the ILT20 auction

Babar Azam is the biggest name at Thursday's ILT20 auction in Dubai. He has entered the pool for the first time, at the top base price of $80,000. Of the 52 players in that bracket with enough recent T20 cricket to rate, our ratings put him 40th.

The auction has 404 names across three brackets: $80,000, $40,000 and $10,000. These are the players who stand out in each.

The $80,000 bracket

Three of the top five are spinners, which suits where the tournament is played. Over the last two ILT20 seasons in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, spinners have conceded 7.4 runs an over, against 8.5 for the seamers.

Babar Azam scores the runs, slowly

Babar has made 1,529 runs in 53 T20s over the last two years, at an average of 36. There were two hundreds among them, including 103 off 59 balls for Peshawar Zalmi against Islamabad United in April.

The problem is the pace of those runs. His strike rate across the Pakistan Super League, the Big Bash and his internationals is 127, against 137 for all batters in the same competitions. In the powerplay it drops to 115, against 137.

A franchise buying Babar gets a top-order batter who will bat through an innings. The question for the bidders is whether the name is worth more than the runs a faster opener would add.

Usman Tariq leads the bracket

Tariq has taken 87 wickets in 54 T20s over the last two years, for Pakistan, Quetta Gladiators, Trinbago Knight Riders, Birmingham Bears and Desert Vipers. His economy rate is 6.9, against 8.6 for all bowlers in the same competitions.

He is hardest to get away in the middle overs, where he concedes 6.6 an over against a benchmark of 8.0. He also bowls at the death, conceding 8.4 against 10.1.

Desert Vipers brought him in for two games last season, the second of them the final they won against MI Emirates. They hold the right to match any bid for him on Thursday.

Wanindu Hasaranga still takes wickets

Hasaranga has taken 88 wickets in 68 T20s over the last two years. His economy rate of 7.6 compares with 8.4 across the same competitions, and most of his overs come in the middle of the innings.

He has played 26 ILT20 games for Desert Vipers, although none last season. The Vipers can match any bid for him too, which leaves the champions holding the rights to the two highest-rated players in the top bracket.

His batting has faded, with 429 runs at an average of 12 over those two years. A side would be paying for his four overs.

Adil Rashid is still the same bowler

Rashid has taken 59 wickets in 47 T20s over the last two years, for England and Sharjah Warriorz. His economy rate is 7.8, against 8.8 for all bowlers in the same matches.

Sharjah Warriorz hold his match rights after 16 ILT20 games for them. At 38 he can't be a long-term buy, but nothing in his recent bowling suggests he is slowing down.

Faf du Plessis is the best batter here

Du Plessis is the highest-rated batter in the top bracket, and the oldest player near the top of it. He has scored 2,104 runs in 65 T20s over the last two years, with three hundreds, the latest 113 not out off 52 balls for Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket in June.

His strike rate is 149, against 137 for all batters in the same six competitions, from the IPL and the SA20 to the Nepal Premier League. He starts quickly too, scoring at 149 in the powerplay against 133.

No franchise holds his match rights, so he is open to all six.

Phil Salt opens at a price

Salt has scored 2,098 runs over the last two years at a strike rate of 155, against 146 for all batters in the same matches. The best of them was 141 not out off 60 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford in September 2025.

Abu Dhabi Knight Riders can match any bid for him. They would be keeping a wicketkeeper who opens and scores quickly.

The $40,000 bracket

The highest-rated player in the whole auction is here, at half the top price.

Aneurin Donald outscores everyone

Donald has hit 68 sixes in 26 Blast innings over the last two seasons. His strike rate of 224 compares with the Blast average of 142, and no one else in the pool comes near his rating.

Every one of those innings came in the Blast for Derbyshire. He has never played a franchise game abroad, so a side buying him is backing him to carry that hitting into a stronger competition.

At $40,000 he is worth the risk.

Chris Green does two jobs

Green has taken 69 wickets in 71 T20s over the last two years, in the Big Bash, the Caribbean Premier League, the Blast, the Pakistan Super League and the SA20. His economy rate of 7.4 compares with 8.5 across those competitions, and in the middle overs he concedes 6.9 an over against 8.1.

He has added 702 runs at a strike rate of 145, against 138 for all batters in the same leagues. His off-spin is the reason to buy him; the runs lower down make him easy to fit into a side.

Imran Tahir is 47 and still taking wickets

Tahir has taken 54 wickets in 39 games across the Caribbean Premier League and the SA20 over the last two years. His economy rate is 7.0, against 8.2 for all bowlers in those two leagues.

He played seven games for MI Emirates in the first ILT20 season in 2023. Nobody holds his rights now. His age will put some franchises off; his bowling gives them little other reason to pass.

Shadab Khan bats and bowls

Shadab has taken 70 wickets over the last two years at an economy rate of 7.7, against 8.8 in the same competitions. He has scored 1,040 runs at a strike rate of 158, against 140 for all batters in those matches.

His only ILT20 cricket so far was three games for Desert Vipers in January 2024. As a genuine all-rounder at the middle price, he could be one of the better buys of the day.

The $10,000 bracket

Every player from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia enters at $10,000, and every squad must include at least four UAE players and one each from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. A franchise has to buy from this bracket whether it wants to or not.

Haider Ali is the UAE bowler to buy

Haider Ali has taken 43 wickets in 47 T20s over the last two years for the UAE and Dubai Capitals. His economy rate of 6.3 compares with 7.8 for all bowlers in the same matches.

He does much of his work with the new ball. Across 62 powerplay overs he has conceded 5.9 an over, against 7.5 for all bowlers in those overs. Dubai Capitals, for whom he has played 30 ILT20 games, hold his match rights.

Muhammad Waseem is the UAE batter to buy

Waseem has scored 2,083 runs in 77 T20s over the last two years at a strike rate of 139, against 126 in the same matches, with 105 sixes. He has played 46 ILT20 games for MI Emirates, who can match any bid for him.

Of the UAE players a side has to take, he is the one most likely to earn a place in the top order on merit.

Quentin Sampson hit hard in Guyana

Sampson has played 17 games for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League over the last two years, scoring 329 runs at a strike rate of 169 against the league's 132. His best was 76 off 39 balls against St Lucia Kings in September 2025.

That is one league and 17 innings. At $10,000, it is enough to take the chance.

Yuvraaj Samra made a World Cup hundred

Samra made 110 off 65 balls against New Zealand at the T20 World Cup in Chennai in February, although Canada still lost. Across his cricket over the last two years his strike rate is 163, against 125 in the same matches.

Most of those runs came in the Americas qualifier, the North America Cup and the European T20 Premier League, all a level below the ILT20. The World Cup hundred is the innings that suggests he can do it against better bowling.

Virandeep Singh tops the bracket on thin evidence

Our ratings put Virandeep top of the $10,000 bracket. He has scored 920 runs at a strike rate of 134 and taken 51 wickets at an economy rate of 5.0 over the last two years, well ahead of the players around him.

Almost all of it has come for Malaysia, against Indonesia, Bahrain and other associate sides in Asia. He has no franchise record to go on. A side with a spare squad place might find out what he can do against better players.

When is the ILT20 auction?

The auction is at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Thursday 1 October. Each of the six franchises goes in with a purse of about $1.3 million, and must finish with between 18 and 23 players, including at least four from Afghanistan, four from the UAE, and one each from Ireland, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The fifth season runs from 21 November to 20 December in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.