Cricket South Africa (CSA) will host its own T20 league, backed by IPL's multi-million corporate giants that have purchased all six teams.
Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) dream project – CSA T20 – is set to hit the turf from January next year, with IPL’s billion-dollar giants showing confidence in the product and its sustainability by buying all six franchises in the competition.
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owners Reliance Industries Limited, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, Royals Sports Group, JSW Sports, Sun TV and RPSG Sports Private Limited have bought teams that will be based in different cities across the rainbow nation.
CSA is yet to unveil an official list of players that have registered for the tournament and declared their services open. But ESPNcricinfo reported that the competition has a list of 30 marquee players up its sleeves already.
With 11 players, England lead the pack among the list of marquee overseas internationals set to appear at the CSA T20. Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone will be joined by Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy among other leading England stars for the tournament.
10 Sri Lankan players, including Maheeesh Theekshana, Niroshan Dickwella, Akila Dananjaya, also feature in the list alongside West Indians Jason Holder, Jayden Seales, Obed McCoy and Jimmy Neesham from New Zealand,
No player from Pakistan is part of the list, stated ESPNcricinfo, partly due to IPL franchises’ longstanding stance against preferring any of the Pakistan players in their respective sides and also their potential unavailability due to international commitments at the time.
The salaries for the players will be ranging from USD 30,000 to 5,00,000 – which sets up its intensive tussle with ILT20 in UAE for the second highest paying domestic league in the world outside the cash-rich IPL.
To ensure its brainchild attracts the world’s best international stars, CSA has allowed IPL franchises to carry a purse of USD 2 million to sign up players and finalise their squads at the tournament auction that will be held later this month.
Each CSA T20 league franchise will need a minimum of 17-man squads for the competition. Of these, they will have to pre-sign five players, with three of those overseas but no two from the same country, one South African international and one uncapped Proteas player.
Also Read – Full player list of Mumbai Indians franchise in UAE league: MI Emirates players for International League T20
Brevis represents MI even in the IPL, which was a theme expectedly followed by other IPL giants in finalising their pre-auction signings. Holder, for example, has been signed by the Durban franchise as he plays for its owner Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL. Buttler will be seen playing for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) owned Paarl franchise.
34 matches will be held in the T20 format, with all six teams facing each other twice during the league stage before the top 4 qualify for the knock-outs. The exact dates for the tournament are not public yet but it will be held in the January-February window at the height of the South African summer.
Here is a team-by-team breakdown of the players signed up for CSA T20 so far:-
MI Cape Town
Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone
Mumbai Indians (MI), who have spread their wings by buying the Cape Town-based franchise, have confirmed their five pre-auction signings for the CSA league. They have on board a star-studded line-up led by Kagiso Rabada. Rabada is joined by Rashid Khan, Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone.
Paarl Royals
Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy, David Miller, Corbin Bosch
Based in Paarl, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) owned team have got McCoy, South African duo David Miller and Corbin Bosch apart from their star England wicketkeeper-batter Buttler on board for the tournament so far.
RPSG Durban
Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers, Reece Ropley, Prenalen Subrayen
The Sanjiv Goenka group owned Durban franchise has locked the services of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) players Quinton de Kock and Jason Holder for CSA T20 league. RPSG Durban has also signed Kyle Mayers, Reece Topley and South African uncapped player Prenalen Subrayen for the tournament.
Johannesburg Super Kings
Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Maheesh Theekshana, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee
CSK’s ownership and management group have looked to retain familarity within the set-up by roping in Faf du Plessis as their captain for the Jo’burg franchise. They’ve also signed Moeen Ali and Maheesh Theekshana for the CSA T20 league from the CSK set-up in the IPL. Their final two signings are West Indies allrounder Romario Shepherd and South Africa’s uncapped fast-bowler Gerald Coetzee.
