From Dh8,000 a month to $170,000 for one gig: how IPL and ILT20 cricketers manage sudden cash windfalls

As the cash-machine that is the IPL doled out yet more riches in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, at various points of cricket’s globe players were becoming instant millionaires.

Or, in the case of Cameron Green, heaping yet more wealth on the spoils India’s magic money tree has already afforded him.

In fact, the Australian all-rounder will not see all of the $2.8 million that Kolkata Knight Riders bid to secure his services for the 2026 season.

The league’s organisers have capped the amount overseas players can earn at the rupee equivalent at around $2m, with the excess being reinvested in player development. Still, though. He should survive.

While the IPL auction was playing out at Etihad Arena, Junaid Siddique was sat back in Sharjah, nursing a hand injury.

The UAE fast-bowler split the webbing in his hand last time out for Sharjah Warriorz in the DP World International League T20.

He hopes to be fit again within around a week, so he can get back to repaying the faith the franchise had shown in him ahead of this season in the Emirates.

Sharjah paid $170,000 to secure him during the ILT20’s first auction earlier this year. Clearly, that is a mere fraction of the extraordinary figures that are dropped in the IPL. However, it is still life-changing for Junaid.

Since the advent of the IPL 17 years ago, T20 has improved the bank balances of its leading proponents and has changed the landscape of the sport.

The leagues which imitate the Indian behemoth do a fair job of enhancing the wealth of the players they employ, too. Cricketers have never had such vast earning potential before.

And yet how do players who have little to no experience of dealing with such amounts of money, or much financial acumen, deal with dizzying salaries for one-off gigs?

Junaid’s change in circumstances was stark. He suddenly joined the in-crowd at age 32. The $170,000 for a month’s work in the ILT20 is around eight times his annual salary.

He earns a basic monthly wage of Dh8,000 to play for the UAE. When he first moved to Dubai with not much more than a few rupees in his pocket from Pakistan, he picked up odd jobs wherever he could. One was packing bags in a grocery store.

But he is not likely to splurge his new wealth on anything lavish. Instead, he says he wants to ensure his young family – his son, Yahya, is four, and his daughter, Azwa, is two – do not have to struggle like he did.

“I’m thinking very simple,” Junaid said. “I have to buy a good house for my family and make some investments for my kids’ study and health.

“First, I want to make a good dream house. I want to make my family’s life easy, not like the way I struggled.”

The bids fetched by Junaid, as well as his young UAE bowling partner, Mohammad Rohid – who made $140,000 at the ILT20 auction – opened the eyes of UAE players to the possibilities of the auction process. Yet there is always the risk of being left unsold and without a gig at all.

UAE bowler Mohammad Rohid made $140,000 at the ILT20 auction. Photo: ICC

“For me, beside money, the commitment is the key for a player, especially when you're playing at a professional level,” said Khuzaima Tanveer, the Desert Vipers fast-bowler.

“They [Junaid and Rohid] are getting good money, but the Desert Vipers retained me. If I’d been going in the auction, I don't know if anybody is going to pick me or not.”

Khuzaima is still the best part of a year away from being eligible to represent the UAE at international level. Yet he has already made a name for himself in the ILT20, for which he credits the support of his franchise.

“I'm playing this year as a retained player, so it was a confirmed contract for me,” Khuzaima said.