ILT20: UAE captain Rizwan to play for Gulf Giants

UAE T20 captain CP Rizwan will play for Gulf Giants, while all-rounder Rohan Mustafa will turn out for Desert Vipers in the inaugural International League T20, it was announced on Friday.

The ILT20, in conjunction with its six-franchises — Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Desert Vipers, Dubai Capitals, Gulf Giants, MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriors — revealed the UAE players who will compete in the inaugural ILT20 from January 13.

This announcement also firms-up the final teams leading into the league’s inaugural edition.

Chirag Suri will turn out for Dubai Capitals, while Aayan Khan will be Rizwan's teammate at the Gulf Giants.

MI Emirates have Muhammad Waseem, Basil Hameed, Vriitya Aravind and Zahoor Khan.

Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu and Junaid Siddique will represent Sharjah Warriors.

With 24 coveted places available, comprising of four players per team and where at least two (players) will play in the starting XI of each side in each match, the much-anticipated announcement marks an incredible moment in Emirates Cricket’s history as well as heralds a bright future for the Associate nation on their journey towards player development.

In exposing UAE’s players to a world-class tournament in an event ratified by the ICC the induction of the players is inarguably a huge boost to Associate Cricket.

Mubashshir Usmani, General Secretary Emirates Cricket said, “Today is an extremely rewarding day. We continue to reiterate that at its heart the league is built on a foundation of development for UAE Cricket and the UAE players.

“To be in the position to now share with the cricketing world that we have delivered on this mandate, with the support of and commitment from our franchises, that 24 of the best available UAE talent has been secured (by the franchises) is an incredible day for Emirates Cricket and the Board.

“We are delighted that alongside a number of capped players the performance and development teams identified a number of budding uncapped players from an exceptionally deep pool on offer.”

The inaugural ILT20, which has received multi-year ICC approval, will be played across the UAE’s exemplary, world-class Cricket facilities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Cricket fans across the world can catch the Live telecast of this exciting cricket league on ZEE’s linear channels, digital platform, Zee5 as well as Zee Cinema SD, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Anmol Cinema, &Pictures HD, &Flix SD, &Flix HD, Zee Zest SD, Zee Zest HD, Zee Bangla Cinema and Zee Thirai.

Franchise teams, comprising 84 International and 24 UAE-based players, include Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders), Desert Vipers (Lancer Capital), Dubai Capitals (GMR), Gulf Giants (Adani Sportsline), MI Emirates (Reliance Industries), and Sharjah Warriors (Capri Global).