The new season of the International League T20 competition gets underway on Tuesday when the ILT20 2025-26 campaign starts as the tournament has been brought forward to ensure it doesn’t clash with the other events at this time of year as much.
The Dubai Capitals were the third winners of the tournament earlier in the year and they will be looking to regain their title as we head into 2026. The competition has held its first player auction so the other five teams will have strengthened in a bid to deny them.
Recent Winners
2025 – Dubai Capitals
2024 – MI Emirates
2023 – Gulf Giants
The Format
The six teams play each other twice in the round robin format of the tournament and at the end of that stage we lose the bottom two sides in the standings. The top four move into the playoffs with the top two sides meeting for a direct place into the final. Third and fourth take each other on in a knockout match with the winner of that facing the loser of the other game for a spot in the final against the team who won the first playoff game. 34 matches in total with all the action live and exclusive on Sky Sports in the UK.
The Teams
The MI Emirates are nearly always the favourites for this tournament whenever it comes along and nothing has changed in that regard this time around. They are the 5/2 favourites to get their hands back on the trophy and when you look down their squad it is easy to see why. They carry plenty of firepower in their ranks but the one issue that they might have is players disappearing to the SA20 competition for the latter stages of the event. It is hard to see four teams being better than them over 10 matches though so you might well be taking 5/2 on them winning no more than three matches in the finals.
The Desert Vipers might be wondering how they are yet to get their hands on this trophy. They have made the final in season one and three but lost out on both occasions and are 3/1 to go one better this time around. They have probably the gun all-rounder in their ranks and a couple of very dangerous spinners so if the pitches tire more slightly earlier in proceedings then they are entitled to go very well again but they will need someone at the top of the order to deliver the goods with that man probably needing to be Fakhar Zaman.
The Dubai Capitals are the defending champions and they are 4/1 to keep hold of the title that they won in fairly impressive style a year ago. The Capitals have added some good players to their ranks, players who are on the fringes of the England squad in this format of the game and they have the box ticked of having a couple of gun spinners. The Capitals have the advantage of having the IPL backing and certain players from the Delhi franchise are on show here so they could easily end up being the team to beat once again.
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The Abu Dhabi Knight Riders have finished bottom of the table in two of the three tournaments we have had in this competition but they are 6/1 to put those campaigns behind them and go on and lift the title. They are probably shorter in the betting because of their association with the Kolkata Knight Riders but if this tournament is going to be won on batting power then they are entitled to be right in the mix. The one danger is that a few of their players are on the wrong side of their peak for comfort but if those men have one last hurrah in them then Abu Dhabi could go well here.
The Sharjah Warriors missed out on the playoffs in the first two seasons of the ILT20 but they were third in the table last term which is sufficient progress and they will be looking to continue that upward curve this time around. They have built a very good squad and if they gel then they could be dark horses for this tournament. The one thing Sharjah need is players who can clear the ropes with their home ground being the smallest in the tournament and with Tim David in their ranks they certainly have that in the early stages of the campaign. If their spinners can keep things tight don’t sleep on the Warriors.
The Gulf Giants were the inaugural champions of this competition but they have been getting progressively weaker since then having come third and fifth in the last two campaigns. They have done some repair work to their squad since last season but there are a couple of players who may be leaving for other competitions during this campaign which is never ideal. You get the feeling that the Giants need to start the season well if they are going to deliver in case their squad breaks up but that first season feels a long way off right now. They don’t really interest me even at 9/1.
Betting
I think the Sharjah Warriors could be overpriced here. They might not see much of Tim David with him heading off to compete in the Big Bash League but the time he is there he could do some damage if his recent spin in the T10 competition in this part of the world is anything to go by. When he leaves there is still enough firepower for them to deliver the goods but actually you get the feeling that it will be all about the bowling at that point with pitches beginning to tire.
They have three top class leg spinners in Adil Rashid, Nathan Sowter and Naheesh Theekshana and a couple of quality death bowlers in Matheesha Pathirana and Saurabh Netravalkar so they are properly stocked with the ball and I always say that it is the bowlers that win these things. I would be surprised if this squad can’t get into the top four and from there anyone can get the job done on tired wickets so the Warriors feel like a fair bet to me at 7/1.
Tips
Back Sharjah Warriors to win ILT20 2025-26 for a 2/10 stake at 8.00 with Betway
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