Who to support when the UAE’s new franchise cricket competition, the International League T20, starts next year?
Three teams have ready-made fan bases before a ball is bowled. Dubai Capitals and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders are representatives of the Indian Premier League franchises in Delhi and Kolkata whose names they bear, while MI Emirates are tied to Mumbai Indians.
And the other three? At this stage, it feels a little like intrigued supporters might have to pick their favourite investment firm, and plump for them.
The teams have no obvious geographical link. The player pool is fluid. Azam Khan’s involvement as the only Pakistani player is still yet to be confirmed. No Indian stars will be involved.
In the case of Desert Vipers, they might hope to pick up supporters from the other teams with which they are affiliated, too – although not in cricket.
The Vipers are owned by Lancer Capital, which is a private equity firm based in the United States. The company’s chairman, Avram Glazer, is part of the family who own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United.
Might his new cricket venture in the UAE be able to pick up the residue from those teams?
“I hope so,” Tom Moody, the Vipers’ director cricket said, when asked if they will become the cricket team of choice for Manchester United fans.
“If we get only a small percentage of them, we have a big following, haven’t we?”
In reality, the cricket operation has little overlap with the other teams in their owner’s portfolio, but Moody is grateful for their sporting expertise.
He is, after all, attempting to build a team from scratch, to compete with franchises who already have years of experience in cricket’s most lucrative league.
The Capitals, Knight Riders and MI Emirates teams are even entitled to pick players who represent their IPL versions.
“There is no doubt they have an infrastructure that has been in place since the inception of the IPL,” Moody, a two-time World Cup winner in his playing days with Australia, said.
“I suppose they do have an advantage to a certain extent. But we have a very experienced management team and support staff who have been involved in IPLs and other franchise tournaments around the world. That has brought us back up to speed.
“We come from a unique backdrop because we come from an ownership with other sporting interests, so there is already a global interest there.
“We also want to play a brand of cricket that people will want to follow. We hope that through that brand of cricket we introduce some new stars locally.
“We hope those players become dominant players not only here in the UAE. And, who knows, maybe first choice players in other franchise leagues around the world.”
The Vipers will seek to make marginal gains where they can. Which is why, on Wednesday afternoon in Jebel Ali, they hosted trials for some of the UAE’s leading emerging talent.
Each of the ILT20 squads are due to include four home-based players, with at least one per starting XI.
“We have arranged this to give us an opportunity to check out the local talent,” James Foster, the former England wicketkeeper who is the Vipers’ head coach, said.
“We have a draft coming up at some stage in November, and this gives us an opportunity to see the skillsets, and identify the areas which we as a side might want.
“When you go into an auction, you never know how it is going to unfold. You don’t know what pick you are going to get, so you have to be very flexible and be aware how the UAE players can fit into your side.”
Moody insists UAE cricket is set to benefit from the advent of the new tournament.
“I think this is going to be a unique opportunity for the UAE, more than anything else,” Moody said.
“We have seen the success of franchise cricket around the world – in Pakistan, India, the Caribbean, Australia and so on. Everywhere it has given an enormous injection to the local talent.
“Having the international talent sharing the same arena and professional environment with the UAE players, they will grow with that experience.
“Not only because of those players, but because of the coaching structure that are going to be set up. It will be an experience they won’t have had before.
“Hopefully in time we will see the UAE national side, and the whole depth of infrastructure, benefit from having their own franchise tournament.
“Instead of having tournaments fly in and use facilities now they have [a tournament in] their own backyard, and they own that. Hopefully that will allow their game to flourish.”
