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In 2025, the BBL and maybe the SA20 will collide with the third iteration of the ILT20. The ILT20, a five-team franchise-based competition in the United Arab Emirates, is scheduled to take place in 2025 from January 11 to February 9 according to the schedule that was released on Friday.
The BBL and SA20 have not yet been declared, but according to ESPNcricinfo, the former will begin on January 26 and the latter will commence shortly after the conclusion of the Cape Town Test against Pakistan on January 7. Another possible overlap would be if South Africa were to visit Pakistan for an ODI series in advance of the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to take place there in mid-February.
A potential conflict with the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) further complicates matters, even if elite players have found the ILT20 to be a considerably more lucrative option. Due to these conflicts with other leagues, there has been a lot of player turnover in the ILT20, with teams signing players for limited time periods even as players move quickly between competitions.
When the ILT20 began on January 19, last season, the BBL saw a large departure of foreign players for the finals series; nevertheless, a few foreign players were allowed to play most of the regular season before heading to the UAE. For individuals with contracts with the ILT20, that won’t be the case in the summer of 2019.
The BBL aimed to mitigate any possible conflicts with foreign leagues by having Australia’s domestic Test players available for action following the conclusion of the Sydney Test match against India on January 7. However, it is known that the Test players may only be available for three BBL games, if at all, depending on who needs a rest after five Tests against India in seven weeks. Australia has a two-Test visit of Sri Lanka set for late January to early February.