Tournament format(s)Double round-robin and Playoffs
ChampionsDesert Vipers (1st title)
Runners-upMI Emirates
Participants6
Matches34
Player of the seriesSam Curran (Desert Vipers)
Most runsSam Curran (397) (Desert Vipers)
Most wicketsWaqar Salamkheil (18) (Dubai Capitals)Ajay Kumar (18) (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders)
Official websitewww.ilt20.ae
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.
2025–26 International League T20 is located in United Arab Emirates
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 USD 2 million, out of which USD 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 USD 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 USD 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:
Match summary
Note: The total points at the end of each group match are listed., Note: Click on the points (group matches) or W/L (playoffs) to see the match summary.
Note: Results listed are according to the home (horizontal) and visitor (vertical) teams., Note: Click on a result to see a summary of the match.
Team
Group matches
Playoffs
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Q1/E
Q2
F
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
2
2
2
2
2
4
6
6
6
8
W
L
Desert Vipers
2
4
6
8
10
12
12
14
14
16
W
W
Dubai Capitals
0
0
2
4
4
4
6
8
10
10
L
Gulf Giants
2
4
4
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
MI Emirates
0
2
2
4
4
6
8
10
12
14
L
W
L
Sharjah Warriorz
0
0
0
2
4
4
4
6
6
6
Win
Loss
No result
Visitor team →
ADKR
DV
DC
GG
MIE
SW
Home team ↓
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
Abu Dhabi1 run
Dubai9 runs
Abu Dhabi4 wickets
Emirates7 wickets
Sharjah4 wickets
Desert Vipers
Vipers2 wickets
Vipers5 wickets
VipersSuper Over
Emirates4 wickets
Vipers4 wickets
Dubai Capitals
Dubai83 runs
Vipers4 wickets
Giants4 wickets
Emirates7 runs
Dubai6 wickets
Gulf Giants
Abu Dhabi32 runs
Vipers8 wickets
Dubai6 wickets
Giants6 wickets
Giants6 wickets
MI Emirates
Emirates35 runs
Vipers1 run
Emirates8 wickets
Emirates8 wickets
Sharjah6 runs
Sharjah Warriorz
Abu Dhabi39 runs
Vipers5 wickets
Dubai63 runs
Sharjah11 runs
Emirates4 runs
Home team won
Visitor team won
League stage
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
Sharjah Warriorz won the toss and elected to field. , Raees Ahmed (Sharjah Warriorz) and Ajay Kumar (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders) both made their T20 debuts.
Gulf Giants won the toss and elected to field. , Haider Razzaq (Gulf Giants) made his T20 debut.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
Gulf Giants won the toss and elected to field.
Sharjah Warriorz won the toss and elected to field. , Wasim Akram (Sharjah Warriorz) made his T20 debut. , Sikandar Raza (Sharjah Warriorz) hit his 300th six in T20s.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field. , Super Over: Desert Vipers 13/1, Gulf Giants 9/0.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
Gulf Giants won the toss and elected to field.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field. , Matheesha Pathirana (Sharjah Warriorz) played his 100th T20 match.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field. , Desert Vipers qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
Gulf Giants won the toss and elected to field.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
Dubai Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
Sharjah Warriorz won the toss and elected to field.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
Sharjah Warriorz won the toss and elected to bat.
Dubai Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field. , MI Emirates qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
Dubai Capitals won the toss and elected to field. , Dubai Capitals qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
Desert Vipers won the toss and elected to field.
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
Gulf Giants won the toss and elected to field. , Abu Dhabi Knight Riders qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.
Desert Vipers won by 4 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Gazi Sohel (Ban) and Simon Taufel (Aus) Player of the match: Andries Gous (Desert Vipers)
Match 2 3 December 2025 18:30 (N) Scorecard
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders233/4 (20 overs)
v
Sharjah Warriorz194/9 (20 overs)
Liam Livingstone 82* (38) Adil Rashid 2/31 (4 overs)
Tim David 60 (24) George Garton 2/24 (2 overs)
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won by 39 runs Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Ahmad Shah Pakteen (Afg) and Martin Saggers (Eng) Player of the match: Liam Livingstone (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders)
Pathum Nissanka 81 (42) Chris Woakes 2/49 (4 overs)
Gulf Giants won by 6 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Assif Razzaq (UAE) and Wayne Knights (NZ) Player of the match: Pathum Nissanka (Gulf Giants)
Match 4 5 December 2025 18:30 (N) Scorecard
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders171/6 (20 overs)
v
Desert Vipers175/8 (19.3 overs)
Alex Hales 53 (37) Qais Ahmad 2/29 (4 overs)
Shimron Hetmyer 48 (25) Ajay Kumar 3/21 (4 overs)
Desert Vipers won by 2 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Asif Iqbal (UAE) and Wayne Knights (NZ) Player of the match: Shimron Hetmyer (Desert Vipers)
Match 5 6 December 2025 18:30 (N) Scorecard
Dubai Capitals160/6 (20 overs)
v
Gulf Giants161/6 (18.5 overs)
Sediqullah Atal 35 (25) Azmatullah Omarzai 3/46 (4 overs)
Gulf Giants won by 4 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Akbar Ali (UAE) and Martin Saggers (Eng) Player of the match: Pathum Nissanka (Gulf Giants)
Match 6 7 December 2025 14:00 Scorecard
MI Emirates185/8 (20 overs)
v
Sharjah Warriorz181/7 (20 overs)
Muhammad Waseem 39 (29) Adil Rashid 3/32 (4 overs)
Sikandar Raza 64 (33) Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar 2/21 (4 overs)
MI Emirates won by 4 runs Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Ahmad Shah Pakteen (Afg) and Gazi Sohel (Ban) Player of the match: Romario Shepherd (MI Emirates)
Match 7 7 December 2025 18:30 (N) Scorecard
Qualifier 1
MI Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
Eliminator
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat.
