The ICC confirms that the upcoming International League T20(ILT20) hosted by UAE will not receive List A status thus participating players’ stats in the tournament will not be registered in their formal T20 records or List A numbers.
ILT20 Will Not Receive List A Status
The inaugural ILT20 will commence on 13 January. The league has received multi-year ICC approval and it will be played in a 34-match format across the UAE.
Franchise owners from the Indian Premier League (IPL), such as Knight Riders Group, Reliance Industries, GMR Group Lancer Capitals and Adani Group were announced as owners of the teams.
Three original IPL franchise owners (i.e. the owners of Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, and Delhi Capitals) also get the chance to sign up to four players from their current IPL squads.
According to ICC’s regulations, any T20 tournament organised/hosted by Associate Member nations cannot attain List A T20 status and the cricket governing body made it clear that no exception will be made for ILT20, which will feature numerous high-profile cricketers.
“The UAE ILT20 has been sanctioned by the ICC but List A T20 status will not be granted to this event as it does not meet the criteria in the regulations,” an ICC spokesperson told The Cricketer.
As per this statement, if any player strikes a 20-ball century or bags all 10 wickets in an inning, his record-breaking stats will not include in his overall T20s stats.
“T20 competitions hosted by non-Full Members cannot be attributed List A T20 status, and the global governing body recently confirmed to statisticians that no special exemption will be made for the big-money tournament in the UAE, which is set to have its inaugural run later this month,” the report added.
Earlier, the Global T20 Canada also went through the same as none of its stats were counted in List A records despite the involvement of big stars like Chris Gayle and Steve Smith.
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ILT20 Rules
Nine out of eleven players on each team can be overseas players, which will be significantly higher than the four or five-overseas player limit of other major T20 leagues. Two players on each team must be a UAE player and a player from an Associate Member nation respectively.
ILT20 Broadcasting Rights
In May 2021, Essel Group-owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises bought the media rights of this league for ten years at a cost of USD 120 million.
