Nine years after a four-day trial in Sharjah, the Abu Dhabi T10 is into its tenth edition with a permanent home and an owner that also runs the stadium it is played in.
When the T10 League opened at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on December 14, 2017, it looked like a bet on shrinking attention spans. Six teams played over four days, each side batted for ten overs, and a match was meant to finish in about 90 minutes - the length of a football match. That comparison was most of the sales pitch.
The league was the idea of Shaji Ul Mulk, a UAE-based businessman who wanted a version of cricket that could be watched in one sitting and sold in markets where the longer formats had never caught on. The teamsheets were stronger than anyone expected for an experiment. Eoin Morgan captained Kerala Kings, and Shahid Afridi was among the stars. Morgan settled the first final with 63 off 21 balls as Kerala Kings beat Punjabi Legends by eight wickets. Four days in, the format already had a highlights reel.
The second season, again in Sharjah, grew to eight teams, and the ICC sanctioned the competition in August 2018. Northern Warriors won the final, with Rovman Powell making an unbeaten 61 off 25 balls, while Hardus Viljoen took 18 wickets across the season. Both are at Emirates Eagles this year, Powell as captain.
In March 2019 came the move that gave the tournament its name. Abu Dhabi Cricket, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi signed a five-year agreement to stage the league at Zayed Cricket Stadium. Abu Dhabi could offer a floodlit 20,000-seat stadium and a government that wanted major events on its winter calendar. The first edition there brought Yuvraj Singh to Maratha Arabians, who won the title under Dwayne Bravo, while Chris Lynn made 371 runs, then a single-season record.
The pandemic pushed the next edition into early 2021, when Northern Warriors, led by Nicholas Pooran, won again. Another edition followed that November, which is why 2021 appears twice in the records and why 2026 brings a tenth edition despite the gap in 2020. Deccan Gladiators won it without losing a wicket in the final, Andre Russell made 90 not out off 32 balls, and Wanindu Hasaranga's 21 wickets at 9.28 made him player of the tournament - a useful answer to anyone who thought spinners had no place in a ten-over game.
Gladiators kept the title in 2022, New York Strikers won in 2023, and the tournament grew to ten teams in 2024 as Gladiators took a third title, still the most by any side. Last year UAE Bulls won for the first time. Tim David made 98 not out off 30 balls in the final and finished the season with 38 sixes, breaking Lynn's record of 31.
By then, the format had travelled to Zimbabwe and the United States in 2023 and to Sri Lanka's Lanka T10 Super League in 2024.
The biggest change of the decade came this year, away from the pitch. On May 20, Abu Dhabi Cricket & Sports Hub, which runs the Zayed Cricket Stadium, took majority ownership and commercial control of the tournament, with the support of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Emirates Cricket Board. Matt Boucher, the Hub's chief executive, became chief executive of the Abu Dhabi T10.
The 2026 field has six teams: UAE Bulls, the holders and the only franchise retained, and five new sides. When the change was announced, Boucher credited the tournament's rise to the vision of its founder, Shaji Ul Mulk.
Ten editions in, the basic rules have hardly moved. A side still gets 60 balls, a bowler still gets 12, and a game still takes about an hour and a half. What has changed is who owns it. A competition that started as a four-day trial in Sharjah now belongs to the city that hosts it. The tenth edition has been under way at Zayed Cricket Stadium since November 7, with the final on November 20.
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