Rising attendances, TV viewership reflect popularity of franchise cricket

Spectators crowd to enter the Narendra Modi Stadium to watch the Indian Premier League Twenty20 final cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad on May 29, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 22 February 2024
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Rising attendances, TV viewership reflect popularity of franchise cricket

  • India’s IPL unquestionably world’s most watched brand, DP World ILT20 claiming 2nd

In the helter-skelter world of international franchise cricket, now is peak time.

Betway SA20’s (South Africa’s Twenty20 cricket league) final was played in front of a full house at Newlands, Cape Town, on Feb. 10.

A week later, the final of DP World ILT20 2024 attracted a packed house to the 25,000 capacity Dubai International Stadium. And on the same day, the first match in the Pakistan Super League took place in Lahore. The final of the Bangladesh Premier League is scheduled for March 1.

A start date and schedule for the Tata Indian Premier League is awaited, as these are dependent on the yet-to-be-announced schedule of the national elections, which are to be held in April.

The most touted start date is March 23, with match locations and dates rolled out in phases once the polling schedule becomes clear. A date for the final is rumored to be May 26, which is barely a week before the International Cricket Council T20I World Cup commences.

While the IPL is unquestionably the most watched cricket franchise league on and off screen, the DP World ILT20 lays fair claim to be the second.

According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council India, the 2023 edition of the IPL registered 505 million television viewers, its biggest ever level. Hindi-speaking markets contributed two-thirds of the audience, an increase of almost half compared with 2022. Some of the increased interest was generated by children, whose propensity to view rose by an astonishing 64 percent.

The DP World ILT20 operates within a four-week window compared with eight weeks for the IPL. Match attendances were up by 300 percent in 2024.

BARC figures revealed that the first 18 matches of ILT20 2024 attracted 161 million views, with 46 percent of the audience women and 56 percent aged under 30. A 12 percent increase was achieved among urban audiences in India compared with the previous year.

In 2023, 255 million fans were reached in India and 367 million worldwide unique viewers via TV and digital channels.

Clearly, ILT20’s appeal is growing, India representing the most significant market. Final audience figures are awaited with anticipation.

The audience profile for SA20 displays different characteristics. Nielsen Sports SA reported a 36 percent rise in viewership within South Africa across the first 19 days of the 2024 edition, compared with the inaugural tournament in 2023. Remarkably, almost two-thirds of the audience was reported to be over the age of 50.

League officials are also looking to tap into the Indian market, given that all six franchises are Indian owned. In 2023, 131 million people were reached there, more than 100 million less than achieved by ILT20. Again, final figures are awaited for SA20 2024 before an assessment of relative appeal can be made.

Any comparison needs to account for the Pakistan Super League, which is also building its brand.

A claim by a former chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board that the 2023 PSL had outperformed the IPL in terms of digital ratings – 150 million viewers on digital platforms compared with 130 million – were not helpful and widely derided.

Nevertheless, the size of Pakistan’s population and the popularity of cricket in the country combine to ensure that viewing figures will compete at the top end of franchise leagues.

Audience figures are not the only criterion to judge the attraction of franchise leagues. Prize money, salary levels, broadcasting revenues, sponsorship, standard of play, strength of competition, and quality of facilities must all feature in any assessment.

The development of local talent is another factor being addressed differently by the franchises. In the case of ILT20 it is an imperative. Each franchise must have at least four UAE players, of whom two must feature in the playing 11.

In 2024, the standout UAE performer was Pakistan-born Muhammad Waseem. He scored 321 runs opening the batting for the MI Emirates, the fourth-highest aggregate in the league. It included 43 in the final that set the MI Emirates on their way to victory. The performance enhanced his credentials which had received a boost in 2023, when he was also the UAE’s leading player in ILT20 2023. In March last year, he was appointed the UAE’s captain.

A further boost was in prospect as, during ILT20 2024, Islamabad United signed him for the PSL. However, because of his involvement in ILT20’s knockout stage, it left only a short gap between the final and the UAE’s Cricket World Cup League 2 matches against Canada and Scotland in Dubai between Feb. 28 and March 9.

This year, the most successful of the players who have grown up in the UAE were 20-year-old Zuhaib Zubair, who claimed 11 wickets for the Gulf Giants, and 21-year-old Alishan Sharafu, who scored 220 runs, including an undefeated 82. At 18 years old, Aayan Afzal Khan already seems like a veteran, having captained the UAE under-19 men’s team, and debuted for the senior side aged 17. This year he claimed six wickets for the Gulf Giants.

In an amendment to the tournament conditions for 2024, franchises were allowed to include players who are serving residential qualifications to be eligible for the UAE.

Haider Ali made an impression, taking seven wickets for the Dubai Capitals, as did the unknown left-arm fast bowler, Mohammed Rohid, with nine wickets. Some of the other locals did not get the chance to play much but will have received a cricket education from the established international players.

More anomalous was the low number of appearances afforded to some overseas players. One example is 22-year-old Englishman, Will Smeed, who played only two matches for the champions, MI Emirates. His career, so far, is an unusual one. After impressing observers as a teenager in white ball cricket, he decided in November 2022 to focus on that format. Effectively he retired from red ball cricket without playing a first-class match.

He is a fully signed-up member of the franchise helter-skelter but surely game time is needed to stay on it to showcase such talent.


Shubman Gill, the ‘Prince’ who is now India’s new cricket king

Updated 6 min 46 sec ago
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Shubman Gill, the ‘Prince’ who is now India’s new cricket king

  • The 25-year-old’s second century of the match took his overall tally for the game to 430 runs

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: India captain Shubman Gill continued to give fresh meaning to the phrase “leading from the front” with a stunning innings of 161 in the ongoing second Test against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.
The 25-year-old’s second century of the match took his overall tally for the game to 430 runs, a figure bettered by India great Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, just three times in a series, let alone a match, during his celebrated career.
Following his commanding 269 in the first innings, Gill also became the first batsman in 148 years of Test history to make score of 250 and 150 in the same match.
All that came after Gill’s 147 in his first Test as captain, India’s five-wicket loss in last week’s series opener at Headingley.
But beyond the statistics, it is the way Gill has played that has impressed seasoned observers.
In the first innings at Edgbaston, he batted in near flawless-fashion for eight-and-a-half hours, with his offside driving standing comparison with cricket’s most elegant batsmen.
But in the second innings, with quick runs required to set up a declaration, Gill made 161 off just 162 balls, including 13 fours and eight sixes.
India are now well-placed given England, with seven wickets standing, still need a mammoth 536 more runs on Sunday’s final day to achieve what would be a Test record fourth-innings victory chase of 608.
“Gill is outrageous,” England fast-bowling great Stuart Broad, well used to working out world-class batsmen during a career that yielded 604 Test wickets, told Sky Sports after Saturday’s close.
“As a bowler, I’d be looking for technical things so I could expose him, but he’s not shown any obvious signs of dismissal and he’s played stylishly. He’s played with huge responsibility, under big pressure.
“It’s breathtaking... He deserves all the applause he will get.”
Gill was drafted into India’s under-19 side as for their victorious 2018 World Cup campaign, shortly after scoring a century for Punjab in just his second first-class Ranji Trophy match.
He made his one-day international debut in 2019, but it was in his first Test series, in Australia in 2020/21, that he came to the fore, notably with a fluent 91 in India’s thrilling series-clinching win at the Gabba.
His first Test hundred came a year later, in Chattogram. A month later, aged 23, he became the youngest to make an ODI double-century, smashing 208 off 149 balls against New Zealand.
Born in Fazilka, near the border with Pakistan, before moving to Mohali aged eight to be nearer better cricket facilities, the nickname ‘Prince’ has clung to Gill to the extent of sometimes appearing on his bat-stickers.
An opener and then a number three, Gill now occupies the number four position held by childhood hero Virat Kohli, with his 269 surpassing Kohli’s unbeaten 254 against South Africa in Pune in 2019 as the highest score by an India Test captain.
As a boy, Gill wanted to know what Kohli’s scores and achievements were when he was his age.
And when Kohli first saw Gill in the nets in New Zealand in 2019/20, he said he didn’t even have 10 percent of the talent when he was Gill’s age.
Yet last year, when England went 1-0 up in Hyderabad, a second-innings duck saw Gill’s Test average fall below 30 for the first time.
But then India coach Rahul Dravid, himself an outstanding batsman, resisted the temptation to drop Gill, who then made a second-innings century in a 106-run win in Visakhapatnam and another, in Dharamshala, during a series India won 4-1.
Gill succeeded Rohit Sharma as India captain after the latter announced his retirement from Test cricket in May, with ‘King’ Kohli calling time on his Test career just a few days later.
A few months ago,when asked about potential leaders, Rohit said “the boys aren’t ready yet.”
But Gill, who started this series with a modest Test average of under 36, looks as if he might be now.


Rashid Khan’s star continues to shine

Updated 03 July 2025
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Rashid Khan’s star continues to shine

  • The 26-year-old bowler’s meteoric rise to prominence has contributed to outstanding performances by the Afghan national men’s team

Rashid Khan is a cricketing superstar who will play for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred this summer. Before joining the team, he added brand ambassadorship to his cricketing prowess — on July 3 in Dubai, he was revealed as the face of leading real estate company, MH Developers.

This exemplifies the opportunities for sponsorship and brand endorsement now available to top cricketers and is a far cry from some 70 years ago when the best they could hope for was their signature on the face of a bat.  

Khan’s cricketing rise to prominence has been meteoric and has contributed to outstanding performances by the Afghan national men’s team, which included reaching the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final.

This is even more remarkable given that the team is effectively in exile. At least it gets to play, unlike the women’s team; most of those players fled the country in fear of their lives and many are now in Australia, desperate to play cricket. They have lobbied the International Cricket Council about their plight, but the ICC, along with much of the international cricketing community, has been tight-lipped about expressing support or making proposals to alleviate the situation.

Their male counterparts have been more fortunate. A contributory factor has been the UAE, with Khan quick to recognize that it “has been like a spiritual home for Afghan cricket for many years, providing a safe haven and platform amid the challenges back home.”

Hence, the collaboration with MH Developers holds tremendous significance for him personally and professionally, having experienced an itinerant lifestyle shuttling between the eastern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

In the early 2000s, Khan’s family, which owned a tire business, left war-torn Afghanistan for Pakistan. Rashid was the sixth of 11 brothers and competed with them in tape-ball cricket — a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape — which is played on concrete strips in corridors. In order to achieve greater zip off the surface, he developed his characteristic fast-arm action and ability to flip the ball out of his fingers to spin and flight his leg breaks sharply.

This, coupled with his batting abilities, marked him out to experienced observers, including coaches at the Islamia College in Peshawar where he studied computer science until 2013. When the Afghan team toured Pakistan in 2014 he performed outstandingly in Peshawar. It was on Dec. 7, 2016, that he made his debut for Afghanistan against the England Lions in Abu Dhabi, taking 4 for 48 and 8 for 74, along with 25 not out and 52, a rich return for one so young. The path was set.

Currently, Khan captains Afghanistan’s T20 men’s team. He has also captained the Test and One Day International teams. In March 2018, aged 19 years and 165 days, he became the youngest player to captain an international side. Then in September 2019, aged 20 years and 350 days, he became the youngest person to captain a Test match team, leading Afghanistan against Bangladesh. He also played in Afghanistan's first Test match against India in June 2018.

Prior to that, in February 2018, he became the youngest player to top the ICC Player rankings for bowlers in ODIs. He immediately followed that by topping the ICC T20I bowler rankings, where he is currently number nine; he is also number five in the ODI bowler rankings and seventh in the ODI all-rounder rankings, having once been number one.

Along the way, he became the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs, needing only 44 matches; the previous record was 52. In June 2018, he reached 50 wickets in T20Is in two years and 220 days, the fastest bowler to achieve this feat. This was followed in October 2021 when he became the fastest bowler in terms of matches, his 53rd, to claim 100 wickets in T20Is. Currently he has taken 161 T20I wickets, the second highest number, and is likely to regain top place.

It is therefore no surprise he has been in demand around the franchise circuit. His teams have included the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League, Adelaide Strikers in Australia’s Big Bash League, MI New York in the USA’s Major League Cricket, Quetta Gladiators and Lahore Qalanders in the Pakistan Super League, the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Barbados Tridents, for whom he took the first hat-trick in the history of the Caribbean Premier League. Khan did play in the only edition so far of the Afghanistan Premier League, in 2018. This was for Kabul Zwanan, who were beaten by Balkh Legends in the final at Sharjah. Despite this, Rashid Khan was the player of the tournament.

It is easy to forget that Khan is still only 26, having made his full international debut on Oct. 18, 2015, in an ODI match against Zimbabwe in the UAE. His T20I international debut followed a week later. He has crammed a lot of professional cricket into the past 10 years.

Khan, who graciously gave a “big thank you to Trent Rockets for the three seasons I spent at Trent Bridge,” says he is “really excited to be joining Oval Invincibles and calling the Kia Oval my home this August. It’s great to be joining the back-to-back champions; hopefully, I can contribute to more success this season.”

The first match at the Oval will be on Aug. 9 against the Manchester Originals. Khan’s move is also an indication of the reality of global franchises — he has played in New York for the Mumbai Indians, who now own 49 percent of the Invincibles.

Khan’s cricket career has been on a consistently upwards path. His brand ambassadorship coincides with a time when Dubai’s real estate market is witnessing a significant upward trend. First-half 2025 figures show a 15 percent year-on-year increase in average property prices and a 20 percent surge in transaction volumes. MH Developers is looking to engage with a wider audience and strengthen their foothold in this thriving market. The global sporting reputation of Rashid Khan, the focus, commitment and talent identified by his first coaches, will be an integral part of this strategy.

Rashid Khan’s legacy in international cricket is already assured but there should be more chapters for him to write.

After The Hundred, there is the prospect of the six-team Asia Cup. Since the recent hostilities between India and Pakistan, the tournament has been in doubt. There is now renewed optimism for it taking place, though the location is uncertain.

It was originally due to be hosted by India. Under new arrangements, whenever it is India or Pakistan’s turn to host the tournament, a neutral venue will be chosen. Afghanistan is a non-starter, which leaves Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — where the monsoon season is due — and the UAE.

If the latter is chosen, there could be some instant returns on Rashid Khan’s brand ambassadorship.


‘Home of cricket’ faces new challenges

Updated 26 June 2025
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‘Home of cricket’ faces new challenges

  • Lord’s symbolizes the sport’s rich heritage, but has also moved with the times

During the World Test Championship final at Lord’s, a previously unthinkable discussion opened up among friends from a variety of backgrounds: Does Lord’s still justify its cachet as the home of cricket? The very question will be regarded as heresy in many quarters, but the heavy thought hung in the air.

At a meeting of the International Cricket Council’s executives committee in April 2025, the Board of Control for Cricket in India expressed its desire to host future WTC finals.

India’s motivations are clear. Hosting the event would cement its position as the powerhouse of international cricket. The BCCI argues that viewership and commercial revenue would be boosted, along with tourism. However, these would be jeopardized if India failed to reach the final. Attendances for matches in India which do not involve the Indian team are notably low. If the final continues to be scheduled for June, there is also the issue of the monsoon season. In order to hold it in another month, the existing crowded international and domestic schedules would have to be disrupted. It is probably too late to change the dates of the current two-year cycle and maybe for the two which follow.

In response to this challenge, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Marylebone Cricket Club launched a charm offensive before and during the WTC final.

In January, the MCC invited the ICC’s Chair Jay Shah to join a new advisory board of its World Cricket Connects initiative. Launched in 2024 at Lord’s, the initiative gathers together over 100 people, including administrators, former and current players, coaches, players’ association leaders, media and broadcasting personnel.

The advisory board, comprising 13 members, has replaced the MCC’s World Cricket Committee. After its inaugural meeting at Lord’s, it will meet virtually throughout the year. How much Mr. Shah’s busy schedule allows him to participate remains to be seen.

He was very much in evidence at Lord’s, where he was feted by the ECB’s leaders. Together with the MCC, they ensured that the full pomp and circumstance associated with a Lord’s Test match was brought to bear. This included an invitation to ring the bell prior to the start of the match. As mentioned last week, rumors now abound that Shah was sufficiently impressed to the point where he will recommend to the ICC’s Annual Conference in July that Lord’s should host the next three WTC finals. If this motion passes, it will burnish the claim of Lord’s to be the home of cricket. It will also be a test of Shah’s omnipotence since the BCCI is likely to be disappointed.

His power and presence were encapsulated in the ICC’s 45-second video of the match highlights released after the final. This has not gone down well on social media. Fans expressed their disappointment by trolling both the ICC and Shah, who features in 11 of the 23 frames. A common reaction is that the video is a PR piece for Shah, to the exclusion of key players and moments. Other reactions have been even more uncomplimentary. There has also been adverse reaction to reports that he did not attend the World Cricket Connects forum, an event he also missed last year.

Topics for discussion this year included fan engagement, franchise cricket, growth in women’s cricket, sustainability issues, social impact and shortage of willow. All of these are topical issues for the game. Gathering together “the most influential voices in the sport” alongside a major match is perhaps something that only the MCC and Lord’s can achieve. An interesting aspect of this was that the heads of the main franchise leagues met together in person for the first time. One hopes that they talked about scheduling clashes.

This is a matter which should vex Shah and the ICC. His voice is indisputably influential. The World Cricket Connects forum and its advisory board have no power. Its purpose is to make recommendations to the ICC, which is under no obligation to address them. Inviting Shah to join the advisory board — and his acceptance of the invitation — looks a little odd. Should he be part of a board which will present recommendations to the governing body of which he is the chair? Perhaps his non-attendance reflects an acceptance of this duality and potential conflict of interests. Either way, neither party appears to have made a public statement.

If Lord’s does retain the honor of hosting the WTC final, the ECB and MCC’s overtures will have been successful. It is relevant to wonder what quid pro quo may be in the offing. Perhaps the imminent influx of Indian shareholding of The Hundred franchises, including the one held by the MCC at Lord’s, is playing a part in the decision-making.

The MCC retains a privileged position within cricket. It has been the maker of the laws of cricket since its formation in 1787. Although it maintains this position, law changes will only be made after discussion with the ICC. Until 2005, Lord’s was the home of the ICC, when it moved to Dubai. Both of these pillars underpinned Lord’s as the home of cricket.

Despite the partial removal of the pillars, players say that it remains an ambition to score 100 or take five wickets at Lord’s, for which the reward is to have their name etched on the honors board. There are famous players who have not achieved this feat. Sachin Tendulkar is one of them, along with Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis. On their way to the field of play, each player walks through the Long Room, lined with MCC members, oil paintings and other cricketing artifacts, representing over 200 years of ritual, legacy, shaping and preservation of the game.

The ground symbolizes cricket’s rich heritage and tradition. It has moved with the times, choosing more modern structures to sit alongside the pavilion of late 19th-century vintage. These may not be to everyone’s liking, but spectator viewing has improved along with ground capacity. Unique among Test match venues in England, spectators are allowed to bring alcohol into the ground, but no fancy dressing-up is allowed, or musical instruments.

There is no other cricket ground quite like it. Sydney has a number of similar characteristics and a rich history; the Melbourne Cricket Ground has three times the capacity of Lord’s; the newly built stadium in Ahmedabad has four times more; Eden Gardens, Kolkata, is much noisier; and Newlands at Cape Town sits iconically in the shadow of Table Mountain. Cricket’s governing body now resides in Dubai, UAE, which has become the place to go for countries that require a neutral venue or an emergency outlet.

Compared with these and other venues, Lord’s continues to hold sway over them. MCC membership and ethos is idiosyncratic. The ground and its architecture reek of history and tradition. There are no crumbling facades, and plans for redevelopment of stands are constantly under consideration. The sloping playing area provides another unique characteristic and an additional test of a player’s skill set.

London’s multicultural population means that big matches that do not involve England are able to attract sizable crowds, unlike arenas in other countries.

Lord’s has evolved and endured, while maintaining its essence, grace, dignity, prestige and tradition. These characteristics and its place in shaping the game combine to support its accolade as the home of cricket.

In concluding the discussion with my friends, they were of the view that Lord’s still holds its status. They, along with many others, hope that the uniqueness of Lord’s is strong enough to ward off the competition from India for future WTC finals.


England chooses to bowl first against India in test series opener at Headingley

Updated 20 June 2025
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England chooses to bowl first against India in test series opener at Headingley

  • The pitch has a green tinge and the weather is sunny and humid, the temperature topping out at 29 degrees on days one and two

LEEDS: England chose to bowl first against India in the test series opener at Headingley on Friday.
Both teams would have picked to field first. The last six test winners in Leeds bowled first.
The pitch has a green tinge and the weather is sunny and humid, the temperature topping out at 29 degrees on days one and two.
India, under new skipper Shubman Gill, has chosen to debut top-order batter Sai Sudharsan, give middle-order bat Karun Nair his first test in eight years. Shardul Thakur, who hasn’t played a test since December 2023, was preferred to Nitish Kumar Reddy as the fast bowling allrounder and Prasidh Krishna headed off uncapped Arshdeep Singh as the third seamer.
England named its team on Thursday, choosing at No. 3 in the batting order vice captain Ollie Pope over Jacob Bethell.
Lineups:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Bryson Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Lokesh Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.


DP World International League T20 and Kuwait Cricket Board sign partnership to develop the sport

Updated 19 June 2025
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DP World International League T20 and Kuwait Cricket Board sign partnership to develop the sport

  • Gulf region’s biggest T20 league to promote cricket in Kuwait through tournaments and exposure for local players
  • League plans to host DP World ILT20 matches in Kuwait in coming years to inspire next generation of players

DUBAI: The DP World International League T20 and the Kuwait Cricket Board have agreed on a partnership to promote and develop the sport in Kuwait.

Through the partnership the DP World ILT20 will organize cricket matches in the country that will be aimed at identifying and developing participating players.

The agreement was inked at a recent signing ceremony at the Dubai International Stadium. Under the agreement, a domestic event, such as the DP World ILT20 UAE Development Tournament, will be conducted annually in Kuwait to give players the opportunity to get selected by ILT20 franchises for the main DP World ILT20 event.

In coming years, the league will also aim to host DP World ILT20 matches in Kuwait.

Chairman of ILT20 and Vice-Chairman of the Emirates Cricket Board Khalid Al-Zarooni said: “We are very proud to announce our collaboration with Kuwait Cricket Board as they join our league (DP World ILT20). It is a great honor for us, and we look forward to many more such collaborations in the future. Kuwait is very important to us; it is a great country and keen on promoting and further developing cricket.

“Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf countries are all one, the (cricket playing) communities are residing throughout the region and our aim with the DP World ILT20 is to grow and develop the game in the entire region. Our endeavor is to provide maximum opportunities to the players and for the fans to join us at this great tournament which we are trying to grow more and more.”

Kuwait Cricket President Haider Farman said: “I am honored to formalize this agreement between Kuwait Cricket and the Emirates Cricket Board to further promote the DP World ILT20 not only in our two nations but across the entire region. This partnership is a key pillar of the league’s broader vision for the growth and globalization of cricket. We firmly believe that cricket can serve as a powerful bridge between our countries, and we look forward to this collaboration bringing meaningful benefits to our players, coaches, and officials alike.”

Farman said it was “a matter of great pride” that Kuwait had become the first country in the world to be officially recognized as a strategic partner of the DP World ILT20.

Cricket continues to grow in popularity in Kuwait, with Kuwait Cricket making significant strides both on and off the field, he added.

“This landmark collaboration with the Emirates Cricket Board and the ILT20 will play a critical role in helping us realize our long-term vision to involve more Kuwaiti nationals in our cricketing ecosystem, especially as players and officials,” he said.

“With the Asian Games scheduled to take place in Qatar in 2030 and Saudi Arabia in 2034, the timing couldn’t be better. DP World ILT20 can be a transformative force in inspiring the next generation of local talent to embrace the sport across the GCC like never before.”

Meanwhile, CEO of DP World ILT20 David White congratulated Kuwait Cricket on the vision and foresight that led to the alliance.

“The DP World ILT20’s long term vision is to grow the game not only in the UAE but across the Gulf region,” he said. “This partnership provides a great opportunity for Kuwait Cricket and their young players to develop further. We have seen it in the DP World ILT20 how the young UAE players have benefited enormously through this incredible platform under some world-class coaching.

“The UAE team recently won a T20I series against Bangladesh which is indeed a testament to the success of the DP World ILT20 as a lot of the UAE team members had received great exposure at the league in recent years, surely Kuwait and other countries in the region are going to benefit as well,” White said.

Director General of Kuwait Cricket Sajid Ashraf described the partnership with the Emirates Cricket Board as a “momentous collaboration” and a milestone for Kuwait Cricket.

“It opens the door to a long-awaited dream: enabling our Kuwait players to pursue full-time professional cricket careers on the international franchise stage,” he said.

“Just as importantly, it offers a powerful platform for corporate houses in Kuwait to connect with a vibrant, cricket-loving expatriate community of over two million people, within a total population of 5 million. This initiative provides a unique opportunity for Kuwaiti brands to expand their footprint regionally, starting with the UAE. We are deeply passionate about our Kuwaiti businesses becoming an integral part of both KCC and the DP World ILT20.

“These well-established corporations in Kuwait have so much to offer in supporting the continued growth of cricket across the region, and their involvement will only strengthen the sport’s ecosystem,” Ashraf added. “This is undoubtedly a win-win for all stakeholders — players, sponsors, partners, fans, and the broader cricket community. We are excited about the ILT20 Development Tournament and eagerly await the first ball being delivered right here in the State of Kuwait.”

The DP World International League T20 Season 4 will begin on Tuesday, Dec. 2 — UAE National Day (Eid-Al-Etihad) — with the six-team, 34-match tournament set to conclude with the final on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.