The ILT20 has made a splash since its inception. They offered the most money to top players outside of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Their figures say they’ve got the second-highest viewership of all T20 leagues, behind the IPL. They’ve attracted a galaxy of stars in each of the first three years of their existence.
And now, even before ILT20 2025 has started, they’ve had some pointed comments coming their way, from no less a figure than Graeme Smith, who happens to be the SA20 Commissioner, which runs parallel to the ILT20. Smith has raised questions whether the ILT20 is giving enough back to the game in the UAE, and if it’s ‘local’ enough.
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Smith’s comments come from a place of “lack of research”, says David White, the ILT20 CEO.
“I don’t think that Graeme Smith has done his research,” White told TimesofIndia.com. “There’s 60,000 registered players in the UAE. Thousands and thousands of informal cricketers play. We are investing significantly in development, and we are using ILT20 as a platform to invest not only in the Emirates Cricket Board’s High Performance programme, but also the development programmes, the festivals, the stalls within the UAE – while also supporting the greater Gulf region. If you look deeply into what we’re doing and understand what we’re doing, I think that you’ll find those comments are not correct. There’s a lot of potential in associate cricket, and we’re providing the opportunity to showcase it.”
White’s comments aren’t just an administrator talking up his league. In December 2024, UAE hosted the Gulf Cricket Championship (GCC), where Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE took part in a closely-fought tournament where UAE beat Kuwait by 2 runs in the final. The tournament had the ILT20 as an official sponsor. Sources have told TimesofIndia.com that considerable finances were put towards successfully hosting the GCC, to the tune of $80,000. And White says the investment by ILT20 into the UAE and the Greater Gulf region will continue.
Moreover, what ILT20 has, which no other T20 league does, is a specific quota for Associate nation players.
“One of the objectives for ILT20 is to provide opportunities to associate players around the world. Opportunities that don’t exist in other major leagues,” pointed out White.
“This year, we’ve got players from Nepal, Malaysia, USA, Scotland, Netherlands, Namibia, and Italy. Can you imagine the experience the Nepalese players – Dipendra and Malla – playing alongside these world-class players and being coached by Andy Flower and Tom Moody? I mean, that is the uniqueness of the ILT20. We are the only league that is providing a platform for associate players to play and develop on the international stage.”
On a more holistic level, there is also the question of finances and structure. South Africa seamlessly re-joined as a Full Member after their long exile from international cricket induced by the Apartheid.
Since their re-entry in 1991-92, South Africa have sat on the big table alongside other Full Members and enjoyed the privileges and revenue distribution programmes that Associate countries don’t come within sniffing distance of. South Africa’s share of the ICC’s revenue distribution is in the range of $27 million right now, while the UAE gets only $2 million.
While the inequalities in cricket’s revenue distribution (which could run into a book) aren’t in the ambit of this piece, any Full Member country pointing a finger at an Associate is doing so from a position of vast, and generational privilege. It is, of course, harder to have the sport take root if you have been receiving less than a tenth of the money someone else has for decades. In the face of these handicaps, the ILT20 has done very well.
Both SA20 and ILT20 have significant investments by IPL franchises too. Sources in Indian cricket say the IPL franchises are not interested in politics between leagues or determining which league needs to continue and which doesn’t.
Dubai Capitals captain Sikandar Raza. (Photo by ILT20)
As long as a league has ICC’s approval, a sound business model, a global broadcaster, and is working under the ambit of ICC rules and regulations, they will feel free to make an investment. The ILT20 do have the ICC’s sanction, which signifies they have fulfilled certain basic criteria. In fact, they were the first T20 League in an Associate country to be granted List A status by the ICC.
“We’ve already established ourselves as the second-most watched league in the world, and we’re supported by some of the biggest franchises in the world with the six teams,” White said. “We’ve got a massive global sponsor in DP World, and we’ve got a big network partner in Zee. So we’re very established in terms of the backing financially. We’ve also got of course magnificent infrastructure, with three world-class stadiums. Great weather this time of the year too. We’ve got the perfect recipe to run a great league. So I think we’re in a great position and we can absolutely compete with the full members, no problem.”
As for the investment going back into local cricket, the ILT20 and UAE have made significant gains there too.
“We see the league as a tremendous way to develop our young players. We hosted a development tournament and we had 300 players apply to play,” said White. “After the tournament we had a draft, and now we’ve got 25 players who will participate in the league this year for the UAE. And what a wonderful opportunity for them to rub shoulders with the best coaches and players in the world. And we saw the UAE players actually perform very well, particularly last year. Take the example of the young Aayan Khan, who’s only 19. Five years ago, you would have thought it was unimaginable for a teenager from an Associate member, to make a proper living and earning good money. And being coached by Andy Flower, one of the best coaches in the world.”
As ILT20 gets ready to enter its third season, perhaps one of the indicators of its success is that it has attained a status where it’s seen as a bonafide competitor to leagues by more established nations.
(Saurabh Somani is a Pondicherry-based freelance cricket writer. In his spare time, he watches the game anyway.)
