Key points
- Desert Vipers have brought back Pakistan batter Hassan Nawaz for ILT20 2026, in place of England’s Aneurin Donald.
- Donald is in England’s T20I squad for five matches in Australia, from 21 November to 2 December.
- Nawaz played all 12 games of the Vipers’ Season 4 title win and took 12 catches.
- He went unsold at the auction on 1 October. The Vipers still have 22 players.
Desert Vipers have brought Hassan Nawaz back for ILT20 Season 5. The defending champions said on Friday 16 October 2026 that the Pakistan batter will replace Aneurin Donald, who has pulled out of the tournament after being picked for England’s T20I series in Australia.
Nawaz in, Donald out
The Vipers bought Donald for $40,000 at the Season 5 auction in Dubai on 1 October. Nawaz was in the same auction at a base price of $40,000, but no team bid for him. The club did not say what he will be paid.
“The fact we have been able to secure the services of Hassan as his replacement is fantastic from our perspective,” said Desert Vipers chief executive Phil Oliver. “He was a key member of the Vipers squad in our successful Season 4 and so he will slot in very easily to our set-up.”
Why Donald is out
England named Donald in their 16-player T20I squad for Australia on Tuesday 13 October. The five matches run from 21 November, the same day as the ILT20 opener, to 2 December. Donald, a Derbyshire opening batter, made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in September. ESPNcricinfo reported that he keeps his place while Jos Buttler is out after hamstring surgery.
Donald has never played in the ILT20, so Season 5 would have been his first season in the league. Oliver said the Vipers were disappointed to lose him but delighted for him, and called the call-up “due reward for his outstanding form”.
Nawaz’s first season with the Vipers
Nawaz, 24, played all 12 of the Vipers’ matches on the way to the Season 4 title. He scored 124 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 126.5, batting five times at number three and five times at number seven. His 12 catches were the second most by a fielder that season, behind Tom Banton, then of MI Emirates, with 14. Three came in the final, when the Vipers beat MI Emirates by 46 runs.
His form in 2026
Oliver said Nawaz has been “in terrific form this year”. In the Pakistan Super League, he scored 291 runs in 10 matches for Quetta Gladiators at a strike rate of 134.1. In the Caribbean Premier League, he and Evin Lewis were the joint top scorers for Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, with 220 runs each, and he made 47 not out in the final as the Falcons won their first title on 20 September.
On 3 October he made 96 off 51 balls at number four against India in the Asian Games final in Japan, but Pakistan lost by 19 runs and took silver. He has batted in five positions for Pakistan in T20 internationals, from opener to number six.
What it means for the squad
The swap keeps the Vipers squad at 22 players. Nawaz is the fifth Pakistan player in the squad, joining Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan. See the full Desert Vipers squad, every team on our ILT20 2026 squads page and our guide to Pakistani players in ILT20 2026.
When the Vipers play first
The Vipers begin their title defence against MI Emirates at Dubai International Stadium on Saturday 21 November at 6:30pm UAE time, a rematch of last season’s final. Oliver said the club hopes Nawaz “will play his part as we look to go back-to-back”. See the Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates head to head and the full ILT20 2026 schedule.
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