DP World ILT20 Season 5 Player Auction: Live Results, Biggest Buys and Team-by-Team Breakdown
The Season 5 auction for the DP World ILT20 is moving fast, and if you have been refreshing the tracker above, you already know how quickly the picture keeps changing. A player who was sitting in the unsold pile ten minutes ago can suddenly land a contract, and a team that looked flush with cash can find its purse nearly empty after one expensive bidding war. This article walks through where things stand right now, using the same numbers that power the live match center, so you can make sense of what the raw table is telling you.
A quick note before we start: the auction is still running. Every figure below is a snapshot taken from the live feed at the time of writing, and some of it will be out of date by the time you read it. The tracker at the top of this page refreshes on its own every thirty seconds, so treat that as the source of truth and use this write-up as the explanation behind it.
The auction at a glance
There are 274 players in the pool at this moment. Of those, 105 already belong to one of the six franchises, while 169 are still shown as unsold. The 105 are made up of three groups: 70 players bought outright in the auction, 24 players retained by their teams before bidding began, and 11 players brought back through the Right to Match (RTM) option.
The player currently on the block is Imran Yousuf, a right-arm leg-break bowler from Saudi Arabia, in the “Saudi Arabia 2 – Bowlers” lot. His base price and the current bid are both sitting at $10,000, which tells you nobody has pushed the price up yet.
Each of the six franchises started with a purse of $2,000,000. Between them they have spent about $9.42 million so far, which leaves roughly $2.58 million still available across the whole league. That is not much money to go around when 169 names are still waiting, and it is the main reason the second half of any auction tends to be quieter and cheaper than the first.
The biggest signings so far
Here are the twelve highest prices on the board right now:
- Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan, bowler) – $380,000 to MI Emirates, up from a base price of $80,000
- Liam Livingstone (England, all-rounder) – $350,000 to Gulf Giants
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan, batter) – $310,000 to Gulf Giants via RTM
- Faf du Plessis (South Africa, batter) – $300,000 to Dubai Capitals
- Alzarri Joseph (West Indies, bowler) – $230,000 to Gulf Giants
- Muhammad Waseem (UAE, all-rounder) – $210,000 to MI Emirates via RTM
- Richard Gleeson (England, bowler) – $180,000 to Sharjah Warriorz
- Allah Ghazanfar (Afghanistan, bowler) – $150,000 to MI Emirates via RTM
- David Payne (England, bowler) – $150,000 to Desert Vipers via RTM
- Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan, all-rounder) – $140,000 to Sharjah Warriorz
- Paul Walter (England, all-rounder) – $110,000 to Sharjah Warriorz
- Alishan Sharafu (UAE, batter, U19 category) – $110,000 to Abu Dhabi Knight Riders via RTM
Two things jump out. First, bowlers are carrying the premium. The most expensive player of the auction so far is a pace bowler, and four of the top eight prices belong to bowlers. Second, Gulf Giants have three of the top five prices, and that single decision to spend big early explains almost everything about their current financial position, which we will get to below.
Why Fazalhaq Farooqi’s price matters
A base price of $80,000 turning into $380,000 is a jump of nearly five times. That does not happen unless at least two franchises decide the same player is the missing piece of their attack. MI Emirates already used RTM on two other players, Muhammad Waseem and Allah Ghazanfar, so they were clearly willing to spend on players they felt strongly about. Adding the highest-priced signing of the day on top of that tells you they are building around bowling depth and local knowledge rather than spreading money thin.
Team-by-team breakdown
This is where the numbers get interesting, because the same $2,000,000 purse has led to six very different squads.
Gulf Giants
Gulf Giants have spent $1,892,000 and have just $108,000 left, with a maximum single bid of $98,000. They have 18 players, made up of 4 batters, 5 bowlers, 8 all-rounders and 1 wicket-keeper. Their retained group is strong on paper: Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai and Blessing Muzarabani. On top of that they bought Livingstone and Alzarri Joseph and used RTM on Gurbaz. They have two RTM cards left, but with this little cash, those cards are hard to use. Expect them to fill the remaining spots with base-price players.
Dubai Capitals
Dubai Capitals are next in line on spending at $1,744,000, with $256,000 remaining. Their 20-man squad leans heavily on all-rounders, with nine of them, plus five batters, five bowlers and one wicket-keeper. Retained players are Marcus Stoinis, Noor Ahmad, Rovman Powell and Mustafizur Rahman. They added Faf du Plessis for $300,000 and used RTM on Dasun Shanaka and Haider Ali. One RTM is still available. With nine all-rounders already, they have flexibility, but a second specialist wicket-keeper would be a sensible target if the budget allows it.
Desert Vipers
Desert Vipers have the largest squad right now at 21 players, with $1,534,000 spent and $466,000 still to use. The split is 7 batters, 7 bowlers, 4 all-rounders and 3 wicket-keepers, which is the most balanced picture of any team. Their retained four are Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dan Lawrence, Shimron Hetmyer and Andries Gous. David Payne came back through RTM at $150,000. With nearly half a million dollars and only one RTM left, they are in a comfortable position to go after one or two quality names.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders have spent $1,361,000 and hold $639,000, with a maximum bid of $569,000. That is the second-largest remaining purse in the league. Their 16 players include 5 batters, 5 bowlers and 6 all-rounders, and the feed currently shows zero wicket-keepers in the squad. That stands out. They retained Finn Allen, Matthew Tromp, Jason Holder and Sunil Narine, and they brought back the young batter Alishan Sharafu through RTM. They still have three RTM options, so they have both the cash and the flexibility to fix the gloves question.
MI Emirates
MI Emirates have 13 players, the smallest squad, with $1,460,000 spent and $540,000 left. The shape is unusual: only 2 batters, but 5 bowlers, 4 all-rounders and 2 wicket-keepers. Their retained players are Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd and Rashid Khan. Since they have several spots to fill and plenty of money, they are probably the team to watch most closely over the rest of the auction, especially for batters.
Sharjah Warriorz
Sharjah Warriorz hold the biggest purse at $570,000, having spent $1,430,000 on 17 players. They also have the most RTM cards left, four, and three under-19 players in the squad. Their retained group is Adam Milne, Waqar Salamkheil, James Vince and Sikandar Raza. The squad currently reads 1 batter, 7 bowlers, 8 all-rounders and 1 wicket-keeper, so the batting department is where the money will most likely go.
What the role split tells us
Among the 105 players who have found a team, 39 are all-rounders, 34 are bowlers, 24 are batters and 8 are wicket-keepers. Franchises clearly value players who can do two jobs in a short tournament. Among the unsold players the picture is similar but with more batters: 54 all-rounders, 50 bowlers, 46 batters and 19 wicket-keepers. Wicket-keepers are the scarcest group on both sides, which is why a team with none, like Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the moment, has to pay attention.
Where the players come from
Looking at the sold and retained group by country, the UAE leads with 22 players, followed by Afghanistan with 19, England with 13 and the West Indies with 11. Saudi Arabia has 6, Kuwait 5, the United States 5 and Pakistan 4. By category, 41 are Full Member players, 22 are UAE-registered, 19 are Afghan, 8 are Associate Members, 6 are from Saudi Arabia, 5 from Kuwait and 4 from Ireland.
The Afghan numbers are worth a second look. Nineteen players, three of them in the top ten prices, is a clear sign of how highly franchises rate Afghan bowlers and all-rounders in these conditions.
Unsold players: names to keep an eye on
A word of caution here. The feed marks everyone who has not been assigned to a team as unsold, which includes both players who went through the hammer without a bid and players whose lot simply has not come up yet. The live tracker cannot tell the two apart for you, so do not assume that every name below has been rejected.
With that said, the unsold list currently includes some well-known names: Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan, Imran Tahir, Tymal Mills, Rilee Rossouw, Hassan Ali, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Najibullah Zadran, Fabian Allen and Saurabh Netravalkar. Most of the pool sits in the lowest base price band. The breakdown of unsold base prices is 114 players at $10,000, 39 at $40,000 and 16 at $80,000. Those 16 top-band players, which include Rilee Rossouw, Hassan Ali and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, will be the ones to watch if teams still have enough purse for a bigger bid.
In category terms, the unsold group has 56 Full Member players, 29 from the UAE, 22 Associate Members, 20 from Kuwait, 19 from Afghanistan, 14 from Saudi Arabia and 9 from Ireland.
How the Right to Match worked out
Eleven players have come back through RTM so far, and the prices vary a lot. At the high end, Rahmanullah Gurbaz went for $310,000 and Muhammad Waseem for $210,000. At the low end, Usman Najeeb, Meet Bhavsar and Bilal Tahir each returned for $10,000. In between, Dasun Shanaka cost $100,000, Khuzaima Bin Tanveer $75,000 and Haider Ali $38,000.
Sharjah Warriorz have used none of their cards in this stage of the auction and still hold four. That gives them a lot of power if a rival buys one of their former players. Gulf Giants and MI Emirates each have two left, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders have three, and Desert Vipers and Dubai Capitals have one each.
What to watch next
- Wicket-keepers. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders have none in the squad, and only 19 keepers remain unsold.
- Gulf Giants’ budget. At $108,000 they can only afford base-price players from here on.
- Sharjah and MI Emirates. Both have large purses and obvious gaps in batting, so any good batter who comes up is likely to attract them.
- The $80,000 band. Only 16 unsold players start at the top base price, and those are the names that could still produce a real bidding war.
- Squad sizes. MI Emirates have 13 players while Desert Vipers have 21. Someone will have to buy a lot of players quickly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the purse for each ILT20 team in Season 5?
Every franchise started with $2,000,000, according to the live auction data.
Who is the most expensive player in the Season 5 auction so far?
Fazalhaq Farooqi, who went to MI Emirates for $380,000. Liam Livingstone is next at $350,000 for Gulf Giants.
Which team has the most money left?
Sharjah Warriorz, with $570,000, followed by Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at $639,000 in remaining purse. Note that Abu Dhabi Knight Riders actually have the larger balance, with Sharjah sitting at $570,000 and MI Emirates at $540,000 close behind.
Which team has the least money left?
Gulf Giants, with only $108,000 remaining.
How many players are still unsold?
169 at the moment of writing. That number changes constantly as bidding continues.
What does the ® mark next to a player’s name mean?
In the feed it appears next to players who returned to their previous team through the Right to Match option. Players retained before the auction carry an asterisk instead.
Does this page update automatically?
The tracker at the top refreshes every thirty seconds without reloading the page. The text in this article is a snapshot, so check the tracker for the latest numbers.
Disclaimer: This page is an independent, unofficial tracker built from publicly available auction data. It is not affiliated with the DP World ILT20 or its franchises. Always check the official ILT20 channels for confirmed results.