The inaugural season of International League T20 is up an running across three different cities in the UAE. Currently into its seventh day, the cash-rich league is witnessing the eighth match in progress. While the conducive weather conditions in the country haven’t really aided in alluring spectators to the stadiums amid a superabundance of competitive cricket running throughout the day on television screens.
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That being said, ILT20 isn’t lacking behind in terms of television viewership. With a plethora of international cricketers taking part as was the primary intention of this “global” league, fans have shown quite an interest in terms of keeping up with the matches.
Operated by the ECB (Emirates Cricket Board), ILT20 is a boon for local cricketers as they have been handed with a golden opportunity of rubbing shoulders with some of the best and biggest names around the world. Considering their inexperience, these many cricketers from the UAE would’ve taken a lot of years in getting such a chance otherwise.
While a maximum of nine international players can be part of a Playing XI in this T20 league, the remaining two have to be local cricketers. Furthermore, there’s a mandatory requirement for a couple of players from Association Nations to be in the squad of each team.
Is International League 2023 the most expensive T20 league?
No, ILT20 is not the most expensive T20 tournament in the world. That privilege remains with Indian Premier League and is highly likely to be with it for the years to come.
Having said that, it wouldn’t be wrong to put ILT20 at the second spot in terms of most expensive T20 leagues with respect to players’ earnings. An overall team purse of USD 2.5 million means that ILT20 is offering more to players than what they get in Pakistan Super League, Big Bash League, The Hundred or any other T20 competition in the world barring the IPL.
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Moreover, it is noteworthy that the maximum a player can earn as salary in this tournament is USD 450,000. The whopping amount is almost double and more than double than what highest earners of BBL (USD 238,000) and PSL (USD 200,000) earn as salary for the whole season respectively.
It is the sheer involvement of such financial enticement that has made it possible for ILT20 to attract so many international cricketers. Also, it is due to the same reason that some international cricket boards had cast their doubts over this league (sanctioned by International Cricket Council) fearing it would finish the desire within players regarding working hard for international cricket.
