Daily Times

DUBAI: There is no David Warner, but Andre Russell, Moeen Ali, WaninduHasaranga, Alex Hales, ShimronHetmyer, Chris Jordan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman lead the big-name signings for the inaugural ILT20, to be played in the UAE in January-February next year.The six franchises in the league — owned by Reliance Industries, Kolkata Knight Riders, Capri Global, GMR, Lancer Capital and Adani Sportsline— will exercise their “direct acquisition” rights to acquire these players, who they have been in discussions with.No cricketers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan feature in the league’s plans at this stage, while Chris Lynn is the only Australian in the mix. While things could change on the Australia, Bangladesh and India front — the last despite the BCCI’s stance against their players participating in overseas leagues, because of the number of teams owned by IPL owners — it is understood that Pakistani cricketers are not involved because they were unlikely to be granted NOCs by the PCB to play in the league, because of international and domestic commitments.

“Over the past weeks, ILT20’s six franchises have started discussions and engaged with players, and players’ agents, to exercise their ‘Direct Acquisition’ rights,” Khalid Al Zarooni, chairman of the ILT20, said in a statement.The other names in this “first set” of players are Dawid Malan, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, Colin Munro, Fabian Allen, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, DushmanthaChameera, AkealHosein, Tom Banton, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rovman Powell and Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

The statement named 33 more international cricketers who have signed on: Lahiru Kumara, SeekuggePrassanna, CharithAsalanka, IsuruUdana and NiroshanDickwella (from Sri Lanka); Kennar Lewis, Ravi Rampaul, RaymonReifer, Dominic Drakes and Sherfane Rutherford (from West Indies); HazratullahZazai, Qais Ahmad, Noor Ahmed, RahmanullahGurbaz and Naveen-ul-Haq (from Afghanistan); Dan Lawrence, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, James Vince, Saqib Mahmood, Ben Duckett and Benny Howell (from England); Blessing Muzarabani and Sikandar Raza (from Zimbabwe); Brandon Glover and Frederick Klaasen (from Netherlands); David Wiese and Ruben Trumpelmann (from Namibia); Colin Ingram (from South Africa); George Munsey (Scotland); Paul Stirling (Ireland); and Ali Khan (USA).

Each squad of 18 will have two players from Associate countries and four players from the UAE, but the process to pick them will start after more international signings are announced by the league later this week, the statement said.There have been suggestions that the space for Pakistani players in the league might be limited because franchises owned by IPL owners were wary of picking them for worries of a backlash in India. One ILT20 official said the franchise owned by Lancer Capital were still hopeful of signing up some Pakistan players, though the official acknowledged that not getting the NOCs from the PCB might be the obstacle. The PCB said in a statement last week that two Pakistan players had applied for NOCs to play in the league but were not granted them because they expected them to be involved in Pakistan’s home season.The 2023 edition of the ILT20 will have 34 matches — all the teams will play each other twice, before four playoffs, including the final — spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.