The fourth edition of the SA20 is ready for the largest shake-up. The organizers have decided to allow each franchise to maintain only six players or to extend pre-ease, meaning that the upcoming SA20 auction on 9 September will see a full team overhaul.
A total of 108 players are depicted in six franchises in the South African T20 League. After the change, 72 of the total 108 players will go under the hammer in the auction, which means 63% of the players are open to the pool bidding.
SA20 set for mega overhaul from next season
This means that teams will have to rebuild scratch and hunt for game-changers for the upcoming SA20 2026. As reported by Espncricinfo, the salary cap has been extended to R41 million (about US $ 2.31 million).
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This makes the SA20 the second largest spending league in the world after the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is also allowed to be brought to a wildcard player, whose salary will not be counted towards the cap, which will give teams additional flexibility to pursue big names.
In particular, all six SA20 teams are owned by the IPL franchise.
SA20 correctly introduced the match and scrap stop draft
While the salary structure has changed, the team’s composition is the same, as each team may include 7 foreign players, but at least 11 South African players. However, he has abolished the crook draft, and now the franchise should now sign at least two under -23 players to encourage young talents to get up through rank in domestic cricket.
Meanwhile, the franchisees will be able to use the Right to Match (RTM) option during the first auction in the SA20 history. If a player who represented the franchise in the previous season is selected by another team in the auction, his former team can step into the bid winning through the Right to Match (RTM) to bring him back.
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But there is a turn. Actually, the number of RTMs depends on how many South African people have retained. The more local people catch, the more power they find in the auction table.
SA20 to start on 26 December, but the format remains unchanged
On the other hand, there is also a change in the schedule for the next SA20 season. South Africa’s domestic franchise league will begin first compared to the next season. Due to no home test match in this summer, the tournament will now start from Boxing Day (December 26) and wrapped till 26 January.
South Africa will play foreign games by mid-December, and some stadiums are being upgraded to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, which allows organizers to start the tournament in the 2025-26 season, but this change is only for the next session.
The T20 League will return to its regular mid-February window for 2027 and 2028 seasons and can also see a slightly longer season during those years. Despite the adjustment, the format remains unchanged, 6 teams competed in 34 matches in the tournament.
