SA T20 league– The South African cricket board (CSA) has announced a new T20 league officially in August 2022. It will be the first time after COVID-19 outbreak that Cricket South Africa (CSA) is conducting a franchise-based T20 tournament.
The tournament was officially announced in August 2022 and its auction was held on September 19, 2022. Before this tournament, South Africa had a league called Mzansi Super League (MSL) but was shut down due to less success and not getting enough revenue.
Another league conducted by CSA
CSA also had a tournament called Ram Slam T20 tournament which was also a franchise-based tournament where some overseas players took participation along with most of the local players (South African players).
In between, CSA conducted a one-off match which is called a 3T match where three teams played a match at the same time. In that match, there were some big names who played like AB de Villiers, KG Rabada, A Nortje, etc.
Now, CSA has come up with the SA T20 league, a 6 team franchise-based tournament. As we see the success of franchise based T20 tournaments all over the world and the demand of the cricket fans, CSA also thinking in the same way as other boards.
It will help CSA to overcome its financial issues if the tournament (SA T20) goes well in terms of viewership and revenue-generating purposes.
Pakistan’s PSL clash with the SA T20 league
The SA T20 league will have so many big players all around the world. Players from New Zealand, Australia, West Indies, etc will be available to play in this new league. Only Pakistan and Indian players will not be available for this new SA T20 league due to their respective issues.
Pakistan has its own franchise-based T20 league called Pakistan Super League (PSL). The timing of this tournament will clash with the SA T20 league. For that reason, Pakistan players will be busy in PSL and will not be available for the SA T20 league.
The SA T20 league will be held in 2023 from January- February. PSL will also be going at the same time.
Why Indian players are not available for the SA T20 league?
Now the big question is why Indian players will not be available for the SA T20 league. Indian players are not allowed to play in any franchise-based T20 tournament other than IPL (Indian Premier League) to protect IPL’s exclusivity.
For example, if the Indian players will be available for the other T20 leagues other than IPL, the market value of IPL will go down. Everyone can see some big Indian stars in other leagues. And the craze of watching big names like V Kohli, J Bumrah, R Sharma, etc will go down.
So to protect the market of IPL, Indian players are not allowed in the SA T20 league or any other T20 leagues in the world.
How can Indian players play in other T20 leagues, like SA T20?
For an Indian player to play in a franchise-based T20 league other than IPL, he should retire from Indian cricket fully. He cannot be associated with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and play in other leagues like the SA T20 league.
Just like in the example of Y Singh. Yuvraj Singh retires from all forms of cricket to play in a Canada-based T20 league called Global T20 league (GT20).
Also, the U-19 World Cup-winning captain U Chand also retires from Indian cricket to pursue his career in cricket in the USA (United States of America). He will be eligible to play for the USA in 2024.
U Chand also played in a Big Bash League (BBL), a franchise-based T20 tournament in Australia. And he will also be available for the SA T20 league.
When will the tournament start?
The SA T20 league will start in January 2023 and will end in February 2023. IPL team owners bought all the teams in the SA T20 league.
MI Cape Town (Owned by Mumbai Indians)
Joburg Super Kings (Owned by Chennai Super Kings)
Paarl Royals (Owned by Rajasthan Royals)
Pretoria Capitals (Owned by Delhi Capitals)
Durban Supergiants (Owned by Lucknow Super Giants)
Sunrisers Eastern Cape (Owned by Sunrisers Hyderabad).
So you can imagine that the league will be very big. As the marketing of this league will be done by the IPL franchises themselves. So much money has gone into this league.
The auction of this SA20 league took place on September 19, 2022, in Cape Town. T Stubbs, the young sensation of South Africa bought by the Sunrisers franchise for R2.9M (Rs. 4.3 crores).
The tournament will be interesting to see. With some big players all around the world featuring along with the local talent of South Africa. Are you excited about the new SA T20 league? Comment your opinion below.
Thank you for reading the article. Keep following us for the latest sports-related updates.
