20:40 GST | 22:10 IST: And that would be that. It marks the end of an iconic day with the first ever ILT20 Auction. MI Emirates had retained their core from last year, and have now spruced it up with a host of players being re-bought. A legend of the game comes home as well. Hope you had your share of fun watching and reading along. Bring on the season, already! 

Woah! Shakib Al Hasan, the legend of the game from Bangladesh, is also coming into the Blue and Gold. He's a certified champion with multiple teams in the franchise circuit, and we cannot wait for him to see him smash runs and knock over batters for fun! He comes in for 40,000 USD.  

20:10 GST | 21:50 IST: Zahoor Khan, the UAE pace warhorse, who's lit up season after season for us, is back as well for his base price of 10,000 USD. Oh, our pace attack looks very, very familiar. 

Another break. Every team has been asked to submit a list of eight players they'd like to see come back for the final round. We're in for a mouth-watering climax. 

19:20 GST | 21:00 IST: Okay, this express round is actually express. Four buys inside ten minutes and our #SquadOfSeason4 is coming about quickly:

• Usman Khan - The uncapped UAE batter is all set to rub shoulders with the best in the business. 10,000 USD. 
• Ackeem Auguste - The West Indian captain of the 2022 under-19 World Cup! This gun top-order batter comes in at his base price of 10,000 USD. What a week it's been for him - making his international debutu and getting an ILT20 contract!
• Arab Gul - A mystery leggie from Afghanistan. We've seen how killer their unknown faces can be! 10,000 USD.  
• Tajinder Dhillon - After impressing everybody with his temperament at the MLC, he's back in the Blue and Gold in the desert. 10,000 USD. 

The final break then. We will have the Express round next, where some of the unsold players will make another appearance. We've already picked seven players and have another four to pick. 

18:10 GST | 19:40 IST: Some heartwarming bit of history being made here. Two picks in quick succession. Mohamed Shafeeq - the medium pacer from Kuwait with a bunch of variations under his sleeve - and  Zain Ul Abidin - the wily left-arm spinner from Saudi Arabia - are all set to ply their trade with the big boys at MI Emirates. They've been picked up in the final round before the accelerated auction takes over for their base price of 10,000 USD respectively. 

17:10 GST | 18:40 IST: Who's game for some mystery spin? Beware batters, you're all set to be bamboozled. Nosthush Kenjige, another one from the Blue and Gold alumni of Emirates and New York, is back. If the tracks in the ILT20 are anything like what they were at the Asia Cup, he's going to have the time of his life! 10,000 USD for the USA wizard. 

Brings us to the end of another round, and we have a 15-minute break. Some big buys, some steals, and a lot of nostalgia. MI Emirates still have a fair bit of squad-building to do here and the next two hours should be critical. 

16:00 GST | 17:30 IST: A whopping 260,000 USD for the one and only Spiceman, our very own Andre Fletcher!! Oh there's no way we were letting go of him either. It was tense, really. Amidst multiple phone calls and long discussions, we've made sure we have more of our core still with us. He was the fulcrum over the last three years at the top of the order, and he'll continue being right there in season 4 as well. Save your heads in those grass banks at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Fletchy is all set to tonk them there all over again! 

Naveen-ul-Haq is no stranger to the MI #OneFamily. He was with the MI New York side when they won the MLC this year. He is now set to add some more Blue and Gold to his resume. Habibi, welcome to Abu Dhabi. MI Emirates saw off a bidding war from the Gulf Giants to bring him in at 100,000 USD. 

15:30 GST: Jordan Thompson - More nostalgia brimming .. the Englishman comes back into the MIE fold as well for the fourth season in a row, for a price of 48,000 USD. Trust him to light the desert up with his all-round skills!

We're done with round one. We might have had just the one buy, but it's a big one. Our RTM card has been used up as well, and with the overseas players coming up next, we should be in for some serious shopping.  

14:50 GST | 16:20 IST: MUHAMMAD ROHID IS BACK HOME! At 140,000 USD, he triggered a major bidding war between the Sharjah Warriorz, Dubai Capitals and the Gulf Giants. But once it was all done, MI Emirates were just not letting him go. We've RTMed him back into the Blue and Gold. Let's have the stumps flying around, shall we!

And we're live... Richard Madley, the GOAT auctioneer is on stage, ready to conduct proceedings. 291 players from 24 countries will go under his iconic hammer. Let's bring them home, Emirates Fam. 

13:45 GST | 15:15 IST: So this what MI Emirates are going in with and need: 

Purse: 800,000 USD

Current squad includes: One UAE player, seven full member nation players

Need to acquire: 

• Two UAE players
• One UAE under-23 player
• Four full member nation players
• Two players from Associate nations
• One from Kuwait
• One from Saudi Arabia

In some super exciting news, JONNY is here! Yep, yep, after dazzling in the IPL playoffs with Mumbai Indians where he just kept finding boundaries for fun, the BOSSMAN, Jonny Bairstow has been drafted into the MI Emirates squad!! Woohooo!!!! He comes in as a replacement for Kusal Perera, who played a major role in our title-winning campaign in 2024.  

13:30 GST | 15:00 IST: IT’S AUCTION TIME. Selling once, selling twice, and SOLDDDD!! 

Eleven slots, 800,000 USD. It’s time to expand the #OneFamily. It’s time to build our squad for the desert carnival. This is where season 4 begins, and this is where MI Emirates’ quest to bring home their second title gets put in motion. And this blog is your space through the course of the auction, where we bring you all the hits, the misses, the joy of a new member coming home, hopefully with some fun along the way..