Sunrisers Eastern Cape are the defending champions, right?
Markram had a wretched 2024 with the bat in T20Is, but you just can’t look past him and his team in the SA20.
Who will challenge Sunrisers for the title?
MI had finished rock bottom in 2023 and 2024, but if they perform to potential this season, they could challenge the might of Sunrisers. Before combining with Jasprit Bumrah in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, Trent Boult will work with Kagiso Rabada in a partnership that promises to be just as mouth-watering.
Does the league clash with SA’s international commitments again?
No. Not this time.
The SA20’s clash with SA’s Test series in New Zealand caused a stir last year, with the CSA prioritising its league over Test cricket at the time. Any South African player with an SA20 deal was informed of their contractual obligations to play in the tournament ahead of the Tests, which resulted in a squad with seven uncapped players, including the stand-in captain Neil Brand, being selected for the New Zealand tour.
The SA20, however, overlaps with other T20 tournaments – Australia’s Big Bash League, UAE’s ILT20, New Zealand’s Super Smash and the Bangladesh Premier League.
What’s the format of the league like?
The top-four teams in the six-team league will qualify for the knockouts, which will have IPL-style qualifiers and an eliminator. To summarise, the teams placed first and second after the league phase will play in the first qualifier, with the winner going straight to the final. The teams placed third and fourth will play an eliminator with the loser out of contention. Then, the loser of the first qualifier will play the winner of the eliminator to determine the second finalist.
Gqeberha is set to host the first qualifier while Centurion will stage the eliminator and second qualifier. The final will be held in Johannesburg on February 8.
Tell me about the big overseas names who will be in action
Despite the clashes, the SA20 has some big drawcards, including Rashid, Boult, Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Matheesha Pathirana and Dinesh Karthik.
Boult will complete the MI set, having already played for their teams in the IPL (Mumbai Indians), MLC (MI New York) and ILT20 (MI Emirates). For Williamson and Conway, this will be their first stints at the SA20. Williamson will play for Durban’s Super Giants while Conway will reunite with Stephen Fleming at Joburg Super Kings, having already won the IPL title under him at CSK.
Also, watch out for Pathirana vs Thushara in the Battle of Lasith Malinga Clones.
Did you mention Dinesh Karthik?
Family affairs
Having been hit by injuries, JSK have called up allrounder Hardus Viljoen, who will play under his brother-in-law Faf du Plessis, who had led St Lucia Kings to the CPL title in 2024.
JP King, who was invited for JSK’s training sessions last season, will join them as a rookie player for this season while his brother CJ King will be part of the Super Giants side.
The Bosch brothers – Corbin and Eathan – were on the same side (Pretoria Capitals) in SA20 2024, but Corbin has now moved to MI, which could add some spice to the MI-Capitals clash.
Is Imran Tahir still an active T20 player?
What about the Impact Player rule?
The SA20 doesn’t have the Impact Player rule in place like the IPL, but teams can name their final XIs after the toss. Captains can take two team sheets to the toss – one with their bat-first XI and the other with their bowl-first XI – and offer up the final list once the toss has been completed.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
