South Africa’s T20 League: Teams, Signed Players And Schedule: Faf du Plessis will be seen again in the yellow of the Super Kings, while Rashid Khan has switched to the blue of Mumbai Indians! No this is not in the IPL – but these two, and a number of other superstar IPL and international cricketers have signed up for South Africa’s newly launched T20 league.
Many are also calling it the mini-IPL because all the six franchises in this league have been sold to IPL owners, with some even confirming a few of the players they have already roped in.
Although the name of the league hasn’t been finalized and announced by CSA yet, it has already attained immense attention courtesy of the involvement of the IPL teams and stardom because these franchises have already roped in some of the best T20 players in the world.
This league will clash with UAE’s ILT20 league – which also has three IPL owners:
Reliance Industries, Knight Riders Group and GMR Group – early next year, but the international marquee players have been chosen or divided into these two leagues.
Here’s everything you need to know about Cricket South Africa’s T20 league and the developments so far:
Who are the owners of the six franchises in the South Africa T20 league?
The owners of Mumbai Indians [Reliance Industries] bought the Cape Town team and have named it ‘MI Cape Town; Chennai Super Kings Sports Limited roped in the Johannesburg team; Sun TV Group, which owns Sunrisers Hyderabad, bought the Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) franchise.
The RP Sanjeev Goenka group, owners of the Lucknow Super Giants, bought the Durban team; while Rajasthan Royals are the owners of the Paarl Royals team; and JSW Sports, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, will run the Pretoria Capitals team.
When will the South Africa T20 league be played?
CSA has confirmed that the tournament, which will run for three to four weeks, will start in January 2023. CSA pulled out (forfeited) the ODI series in Australia in January next year – risking their direct qualification for the 2023 World Cup as Australia will be awarded a 3-0 win – to have their top players available for this league.
How many overseas players can play in the eleven?
It is believed that CSA will allow a maximum of 4 overseas players in the eleven, similar to the IPL.
What is the format of the South Africa T20 league?
The six teams shall play each other in a double round before the top three sides move to the play-off stages
How many players can be in a squad, and how will they be picked?
Over 30 marquee international players have already been signed by the League, in addition to all contracted Proteas and domestic players who have committed to the league. An auction will be held in the coming months for teams to complete their 17-man squads.
CSA has announced that franchises can acquire players through an auction model, making it the second league in the world after the IPL to do so.
Each team will have a squad of 17 players, and will be able to pre-sign up to five players – 3 internationals, one South African player and one uncapped South African player prior to the auction.
Who are the players who have signed for South Africa T20 league?
The MI Cape Town are the first team to announce their picks – and it’s building up to quite a strong unit already: Rashid Khan, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Dewald Brevis are MI Cape Town’s five picks.
While no other team has announced their players so far, it has been reported that CSK have signed Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, and Maheesh Theekshana; Paarl Royals have signed Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy, both of whom play for RR in the IPL.
Pretoria Capitals have retained their South African Delhi Capitals pacer, Anrich Nortje; and Port Elizabeth team, owned by SRH, have retained their South African batter, Aiden Markram. Quinton de Kock and Jason Holder, both of who play for Lucknow in the IPL, will continue to play for Sanjiv Goenka who owns the Durban team.
There are plenty of England players – including Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan – who have been picked in the list of 30 along with a number of Sri Lankan stars, including Niroshan Dickwella. As expected, there are no Pakistan players on the list given the franchise owners feared backlash in India.
