Cricket South Africa (CSA) are pressing forward with more intent, making it clear to the world that they are all-in and will take all measures to become the second-biggest T20 league in the world as they have announced the total prize purse of Rand 70 million (more than USD 4 million or INR 33.5 crore) for the inaugural edition of the SA20 competition.

This is, as a CSA media statement said, is “the biggest prize pool in the history of South African franchise cricket”. SA20 is partly owned by broadcaster SuperSport, and has already secured an overseas broadcast deal, which would allow this league to become what Graeme Smith aspires.

Graeme Smith, the SA20 commissioner, said, “We have worked hard to offer a rewarding and unprecedented incentive in the first season of Betway SA20. This is a first for South African cricket, we have never had this type of competitive incentive in our domestic cricket and it is a further indication of SA20’s ambitions to positively impact South African cricket.”

Currently, the total IPL Prize Money stands at Rs 46.5 crore

But it is set to be increased significantly – around 20 percent – from next season. The winner’s prize money in the IPL of INR 20 crore is the highest for any winners in a T20 league,

The SA20 is the latest and by far the biggest attempt of CSA in the T20 franchise world after about two of their leagues – after the Global League T20 and the Mzansi Super League – in the past years were scrapped due to various reasons.

All 6 franchises in the tournament have IPL owners: MI Cape Town (Mumbai Indians), Paarl Royals (owners of Rajasthan Royals), Johannesburg Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings), Pretoria Capitals (Delhi Capitals), Durban’s Super Giants (Lucknow Super Giants) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (Sunrisers Hyderabad).

The SA20 2023 will commence on January 10 and will conclude on February 11 but it will have a break between January 25 and February 1 when South Africa host England in 3 ODIs which are part of the World Cup Super League.

Each of the six SA20 teams will have five home and five away matches. A total of 33 matches – two round-robin leagues, two semi-finals, and the final – will be played in the tournament.