Babar Azam will make his ILT20 debut for Desert Vipers, who bought him at the Season 5 auction in Dubai on Thursday for his $80,000 base price with no rival bid. Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah also went back to the defending champions at the same base price.
Five of the league’s six franchises have Indian owners. The Vipers are the only exception: they belong to American businessman Avram Glazer, co-owner of Manchester United.
The price does not match the player. Babar has scored more T20I runs than anyone in history. In May he captained Peshawar Zalmi to the PSL 11 title and finished as the top scorer with 588 runs.
One Indian-owned team did buy a Pakistan player. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, owned by Shah Rukh Khan, signed mystery spinner Usman Tariq for his $80,000 base price in the fast bidding at the end of the auction. The Knight Riders group already knows him well: he plays for their Caribbean side, Trinbago Knight Riders, who retained him for CPL 2026.
From the outside, the base price looks like a snub. Inside the auction room it reads very differently, and so does the Tariq signing.
Elsewhere, the money flowed. Four players broke the previous ILT20 record of $260,000.
| Player | Team | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Fazalhaq Farooqi | MI Emirates | $380,000 |
| Liam Livingstone | Gulf Giants | $350,000 |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Gulf Giants | $310,000 |
| Faf du Plessis | Dubai Capitals | $300,000 |
| Muhammad Waseem | MI Emirates | $210,000 (record for a UAE player) |
| Babar Azam | Desert Vipers | $80,000 |
| Usman Tariq | Abu Dhabi Knight Riders | $80,000 |
Insider Read
The paddles that stay down in an auction room tell a franchise as much as the ones that go up. With only one realistic buyer for Babar, the Vipers had no reason to bid early or bid high. His base price is a discount the room created, not a verdict on the player.
Tariq broke the pattern because of how teams pick under time pressure. The late, fast rounds leave no time to study a player, so franchises reach for names they already know. Knight Riders know Tariq’s action, workload and nerve from Trinbago, and a mystery spinner inside your own system carries far less risk than one known from highlights.
A Pattern, Not a Total Ban
This is not new. Last year the Vipers bought Fakhar, Naseem and Hasan Nawaz without a rival bid. That Pakistani core went on to win the franchise’s first ILT20 title.
The same tension reached England this year. In the Hundred auction in March, Indian-owned Sunrisers Leeds signed Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for £190,000 and faced a fierce backlash in India. The team’s X account was briefly suspended.
The Tariq and Abrar signings show the line can be crossed. The Sunrisers backlash shows what crossing it can cost.
The ILT20 season runs from 21 November to 20 December in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
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