Abu Dhabi T10 – Kieran Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Shakib Al Hasan in action as star-studded Abu Dhabi T10 kicks off

The sixth season of the Abu Dhabi T10 begins on Wednesday at the Zayed Cricket Stadium with New York Strikers, led by Kieron Pollard, taking on Bangla Tigers, who will be captained by Shakib Al Hasan.

Wednesday’s double-header will also see the reigning champions Deccan Gladiators clashing with Team Abu Dhabi. The two sides will be led by Nicholas Pooran and Chris Lynn respectively,

Mushtaq Ahmed will once again be in charge of a Gladiators team with the likes of Andre Russell, David Wiese and Tabraiz Shamsi. The Gladiators came on top of the group standings last year, winning seven out of their ten games before beating Delhi Bulls in the Qualifier and then again in the final.

Two new franchises have joined for this year’s edition from USA with the launch of the Strikers and Morrisville Samp Army increasing the amount of teams to eight.

Moeen Ali will lead the Morrisville franchise once he joins up in the UAE after winning the T20 World Cup with England in Australia, while Lance Klusener is head coach. The Strikers will be coached by Carl Crowe and will also benefit from having Yuvraj Singh as a mentor.

He isn’t the only Indian name set to feature, with the likes of Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth all signed up for the competition.

The tournament will feature some of cricket’s most well-known names with 140 cricketers signed up, including the likes of Eoin Morgan, David Miller, Adil Rashid, Wanindu Hasaranga and Alex Hales.

Each team will face each other once, with 33 games scheduled over the next 12 days in Abu Dhabi. The top two sides will advance to a Qualifier with the winner progressing to the final on Sunday, December 4. The winner of the eliminator between third and fourth place will face the loser of the Qualifier in a virtual sem-final, with the winner of that game advancing to the final.

Aadam Patel is a freelance sports reporter who has written for BBC Sport, the Daily Mail, ESPNcricinfo, the Cricketer and other publications @aadamp9