MI Cape Town lifted the SA20 trophy by defeating Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Former South African batter and SA20 league’s commissioner, Graeme Smith heaped praise on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as he credits the Indian Premier League (IPL) for building a culture of creating its own T20 league in every country.
In an exclusive interview with PTI Bhasha in Johannesburg, he said, “BCCI and IPL have been amazing in supporting us and guiding us in every decision we have made. IPL is the leader in franchise cricket by far and we can only learn from them.”
MI Cape Town clinched their maiden SA20 trophy this month by crushing Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
IPL 2024 saw maximum participation from South African players. In SA20 earlier this year, Dinesh Karthik became the first Indian player to play in South Africa’s T20 league. The former wicketkeeper-batter played for Paarl Royals, who lost the second qualifier against Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Centurion.
The former SA captain added, “If the Indian players were available, we would love to have them here. But nothing of that sort is in the pipeline. We always have conversations and probably at the IPL time I will be there in India. We have a very good relationship with them.”
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Smith explained that people should credit the system for the country’s cricketing resurgence. Smith believes that with this league, they have managed to create a great platform for young talents. They can get an opportunity to play with the biggest stars around the world and can learn from them. The world might watch only 15 players who represent the national team, but there are 60-70 players who have shown the potential to play for South Africa in the future.
The SA20 commissioner considers himself “lucky” to “play a couple of years in the IPL”. He cherishes the memories of winning the first edition with Rajasthan Royals in 2008. He recalls how he created this T20 league step-by-step by taking inspiration from the IPL, which led to the participation of six IPL franchises in the tournament.
Smith extended his gratitude and envisioned, “We want to have the best players and definitely we want to grow and see how big we can actually get in the world of cricket.”
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