The UAE T20x has got a huge blow after its inaugural edition has been cancelled due to lack of buyers of the franchises. While the tournament organisers have planned for five franchises, only two buyers were interested in the tournament.
The UAE T20x is the new Twenty20 league in the United Arab Emirates that has been scheduled to be run by Emirates Cricket Board and its first edition was expected to be scheduled between December 2018 and January 2019.
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Even the tournament organisers have already assured some big names to play in this tournament. Shahid Afridi, David Miller, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and Kumar Sangakkara have been announced as the icon players while Steve Smith, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan and Lasith Malinga have also given the green signals for this tournament. Moreover, around 125 players from the associate members were in the draft list.
However, they haven’t got enough buyers of the franchise teams as only two buyers has completed their negotiations and the three franchises have remained unsold.
Announcing the cancellation of the inaugural edition of UAE T20x in this coming December/January, Emirates Cricket Board stated, “Following talks between the Emirates Cricket Board and event promoter OPi, it has been mutually agreed that the planned UAE T20x franchise cricket league will not take place in the UAE this coming December/January.
“The decision follows the conclusion of the Invitation to Tender process for tournament franchises. Both the ECB and OPi had been hopeful of achieving the sale of five franchise teams for the first year of the tournament.
“Whilst negotiations had been completed on two franchise teams and a further three were well advanced, it was felt that there was no longer sufficient time to close the sales process and to successfully deliver and promote a December event.”
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Earlier in this year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to restrict the increasing number of T20 leagues in global. The recent Emirates Cricket Board’s statement also mentioned it as they believe that decision has affected hugely in this tournament.
The statement said, “The decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July to explore potential limitations on T20 cricket leagues and player participation in them, meant that investment into UAE T20x had to be curtailed throughout the summer in anticipation of a decision. This in turn impacted timings around commercial conversations with potential franchise buyers.”
