The T20 Franchise League of South Africa is starting from next January. Six teams will play in this T-20 league, which is going to start with a new look. All these six teams are owned by Indians. Specifically the franchise owners of the IPL.
According to the Indian media New Indian Express, six franchises of the South African T20 League have already been bought by the owners of IPL teams Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Supergiant, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals.
Chennai Super Kings’ parent company Chennai Super Kings Sports Limited has bought the Johannesburg franchise for the highest amount. Mumbai Indians owner Reliance Industries has bought the Cape Town franchise. The Port Elizabeth team was bought by Sun TV Group, the owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In this year’s IPL, the Lucknow Super Giants team was bought by the Sanjeev Goenka Group for Rs 7,000 crore. They bought the Durban franchise in the South African league. Apart from this, the owners of Rajasthan Royals bought the Pearl franchise. The Pretoria-based team has bought Jindal South West Sports from Jindal Group, co-owner of Delhi Capitals.
The T20 league will be jointly managed by the South African Cricket Board and broadcaster SuperSport. The names of the franchises and other related matters will be announced by the South African Cricket Board soon. Former South African captain Graeme Smith will be in charge of the overall management of the league.
It may be noted that before this the South African Cricket Board had launched the franchise T20 league twice under different names (Global League T20 and MJNC Super League). But they have not seen much success due to various reasons.
The new T20 league is now the top priority of the South African Cricket Board. They are so desperate to make the league a success that the ODI series against Australia in January has also been cancelled. The series against Australia was crucial for the South African team, currently ranked 11th in the ICC ODI Super League. In the current position of the Protea team, there are doubts whether they will be able to play the 2023 World Cup directly or not. South Africa sees the T20 League as a tool to achieve sustainable financial viability in the future. In this regard, South Africa is thinking of taking out a separate time like IPL.
