Key points
- Desert Vipers chief executive Phil Oliver said Babar Azam was “very much high on our list of priorities” at the ILT20 Season 5 auction.
- The Vipers signed Babar for his $80,000 base price in Dubai on 1 October 2026, with no rival bid.
- Babar has scored the most runs in men’s T20 internationals (4,596) and in the Pakistan Super League (4,380).
- Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan also joined the Vipers for $80,000 each.
Desert Vipers chief executive Phil Oliver has explained why the defending champions made Babar Azam one of their main targets at the ILT20 Season 5 auction. Speaking on Wisden’s The Scoop, Oliver said the Pakistan batter was high on the Vipers’ list even before the auction began.
The Vipers signed Babar for his base price of $80,000 at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Thursday 1 October 2026, and no other team bid for him. Read our report on the signing.
“High on our list of priorities”
“It’s good to have Babar with us,” Oliver said. “I mean, he is a player of high pedigree. I mean, that’s what you start with. I think we’re talking about the player with the most men’s T20 international runs, top scorer in the PSL, and that’s not to be sniffed at.”
“So, when someone like that is available, you absolutely look at what it can bring to your top order,” he added. “You obviously need a bit of a balance with this squad when you go into an auction and he was very much high on our list of priorities.”
Oliver said playing in the UAE needs “a different skill set in some cases with your batting”, and that with the Vipers’ top order “it feels like we’ve got all bases covered”. He called Babar “a key pickup for us” and said the team was “delighted to secure him pretty early on”.
The numbers behind the pick
The records back up what Oliver said. Babar has scored 4,596 runs in 136 innings in men’s T20 internationals, more than any other player, at a strike rate of 128. He is also the leading run-scorer in the history of the Pakistan Super League, with 4,380 runs in 109 innings.
His last PSL season was one of his best. He made 588 runs in 11 innings in PSL 2026, including two centuries, and was named captain of the PSL Team of the Tournament.
His place in Pakistan’s T20 side is less certain. He has not played a T20 international since the T20 World Cup in February, and he was left out of the T20 squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, which starts on 9 October. He is in Pakistan’s squad for the one-day tri-series with England and Sri Lanka that follows.
Four Pakistan players at the Vipers
Babar was one of four Pakistan players the Vipers bought at the auction. Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan, who have all played for the Vipers before, also joined for $80,000 each. The Vipers said their auction table was made up of Oliver, director of cricket Tom Moody, development lead Jack Luffman, head of operations Sam Charnley and analyst Freddie Wilde.
What comes next
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. See the full Desert Vipers squad, the Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates head to head and the ILT20 2026 schedule.
Spotted a mistake? Email info@internationaleaguet20.com and we will correct it, noting the change at the top of the article.
