From left: Sharjah Warriorz captain Tim Southee, MI Emirates captain Kieron Pollard, Gulf Giants player Moeen Ali, Dubai Capitals player Gulbadin Naib, Desert Vipers captain Lockie Ferguson and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders captain Jason Holder pose with the DP World ILT20 trophy at the opening match of the Season International Stadium 4 day ahead of the ILT20 Dubai World Stadium. DUBAI: In its short but eventful journey, the ILT20 has battled for breathing space in cricket’s most congested window – clashing with the SA20, the Big Bash League (BBL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Players are forced to choose, schedules collide and the tug-of-war grows every year. Yet amid the chaos, ILT20 has carved out its own turf and is quietly thriving, brick by brick.At the captains’ press conference at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday night, the ILT20 trophy sat between two generations of cricket stars. On one side were Sharjah Warriors captain Tim Southee, MI Emirates captain Kieron Pollard and MI Emirates stand-in captain Moeen Ali. Opposing them were Dubai Capitals acting captain Gulbadin Naib, Desert Vipers captain Lockie Ferguson and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders captain Jason Holder. The ILT20 trophy gleamed in the middle, a reminder of what these six teams will be fighting for under the desert lights over the next few weeks.
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Former West Indies all-rounder and Emirates MI captain Kieron Pollard, one of the OGs of T20 cricket, refused to include ILT20 among other franchise tournaments.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!“It’s a tough question,” Pollard said when asked by TimesofIndia.com about where he would rank the ILT20 among the other competitions he has featured in.“I don’t want to rank it. You don’t want to put a number on where the tournament is ranked. Every tournament has its own, however you want to put it.”“This tournament will have a lot more international players because of where it is. Again, it’s a great tournament to see the best of the international players playing at this time of year as well with other tournaments around. So the competition in itself will be very, very high. So I’m not going to put a number on that,” he says.
Captain of the ILT20 team at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai
Pollard, who has taken over the reins from fellow West Indies superstar Nicholas Pooran, adds: “We love the place itself. The UAE is always exciting and it’s a good place to play cricket, which gives us extra motivation.”ILT20 CEO and former New Zealand cricketer David White said the tournament had grown significantly over the past three years and would only get better.“The quality of cricket will be really high with nine overseas players per team,” he says.In this year’s tournament, the league also includes players from other Gulf countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.“Now we have also introduced some Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian players. And we see the future of this league very much being a Gulf region league, not just the UAE,” he says.
Earn money now
White’s words were echoed by Laxmi Shetty, Head – Advertisement Revenue, Broadcast and Digital, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. In an exclusive interaction with TimesofIndia.com, Laxmi said that the tournament has grown into the world’s second most watched T20 league and the addition of three Indian players is expected to further increase its global and Indian viewership.
Laxmi Shetty (left), Head – Advertising Revenue, Broadcast & Digital, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd with ILT20 CEO and former New Zealand cricketer David White. (ILT20)
“The season has actually grown year-over-year. We’ve seen viewership growth around the world. It’s the second most watched league, I would say, worldwide,” he says.“From India’s point of view, with three Indian players, it would add more viewership. India is a very big cricket-loving country, so it’s another big opportunity for the fans,” he explains.Laxmi also revealed that the tournament has now started to recover after not making any money in the previous three editions.“Each tournament takes 3-4 years (to break even) and having seen it, yes, I would say we are well on our way to recovery. In fact, much more. Recovery is not just about money. There is also a fun part in the channels. This cricket is also a kind of fun.“We air on all movie channels and Zee5 is free to watch and stream. So you also get a new set of viewers, which we will benefit from in the future. So there are two types of benefits,” he says.
Burden on UAE players
Gulf Giants head coach Jonathan Trott believes the ILT20 is moving in the right direction and with so many international players in the league, it will only improve the skills of the local players.“Well, you’ve just looked at the captains and coaches meeting today. You look at the quality of coaches in the league and the other sides. You look at the quality of captains that are there. You’ve got Pollard and Tim Southee in the tournament, a hugely experienced international player,” Trott says in a casual interview.
Former England player Jonathan Trott
“For local players, they have the best opportunity in the world to learn and watch some of the best players, certainly in this format and in franchise cricket. You get a huge number of local players who show up like that in the dressing room, in the hotel environment, in the gym – watching, learning, talking. So I think it can only grow and I hope it extends to the field,” says Trott.Giants bowling coach and former New Zealand great Shane Bond calls the ILT20 a “one-of-a-kind” tournament.“I think it’s a unique league because you have so many overseas players from different countries and of course you have local players,” Bond tells the site.“That’s the part that I really enjoy – seeing local players get the opportunity to play in the league. So I think it’s the responsibility of the cricket community to bring a lot of different countries up and this is a league that definitely helps these UAE players,” he says.
Dubai Capitals player Gulbadin Naib and Desert Vipers captain Lockie Ferguson.
“Coming here and for me as a coach it’s also a bit more challenging because you’re dealing with things like language, culture, trying to bring people together. And so it makes you think about your own coaching and how you go about it. I mean it’s encouraging,” adds Bond.Gulf Giants English all-rounder Moeen Ali, whose team lifted the trophy in its inaugural edition, said his local players will hold the key to the team’s success.“The quality has gone up and I’m excited to be part of the new team. We’ve gone in a different direction with our players. I think the important thing is how good our local players are and we hope to get back to where our team belongs, which is the title race,” Ali says.
Diverse
In this edition of ILT20, he invited seven budding African associate players as bowlers. The initiative offers young talents from Botswana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania rare access to an elite environment where they train alongside international stars across the ILT20 franchises.
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In the selected group are catlo piet (botswana) with Sharjah warriorz, Juma Mygi (Uganda) with GULF GIANS, Samuel Conteh (Sierra Leone) with Sharjah Warriorz, Martin Akayezu (Randa) with adial, Francis Mutua (Kenya) with Desert Vipers, peter Ahosnusm of Nigeria and Dubai (Tanzania) with Mi emiates — A Diverse Cohohort Entering the Cricket Learning Curve.The tournament kicks off on UAE National Day with a rematch of last season’s final between defending champions Dubai Capitals and Desert Vipers.
