‘IPL franchises provided a big base’: SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith on league’s success

NEW DELHI: SA20 – South Africa's premier franchise-based T20 tournament – is moving into its fifth season. Over the last four years, it has established itself as one of the leading T20 tournaments in the world, with players from across the globe participating in it. The tournament has six franchises – Durban's Super Giants, Joburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town, Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals, and Sunrisers Eastern Cape – owned by IPL franchises of the same name. Graeme Smith, former SA skipper and the SA20 commissioner, spoke to WION in a conversation after the season 5 auction about how the league became a sustainable product and how it has helped South African cricket.

How IPL franchises helped SA20 become sustainable

"There were always going to be a couple of key fundamentals up front that you needed to get right. Cricket South Africa took the decision to build outside and brought in a big broadcaster as a shareholder, which really helped give us the base to build the business model of the league and go to market," said Smith in an interaction facilitated by SA20 post-Season 5 Auction.

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"We were also fortunate to have met over 40 different potential investors at the time. But I think getting the six IPL franchises in the end that we do have, has provided a real big base for us to be able to build the league.

The way they invest in players, the quality that they bring, the way they look after the players and the teams as well, I think it's brought a real professionalism to our game," he noted on the role of IPL franchises in the SA20.

How SA20 helped South African cricket

South Africa reached the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup, final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, and semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup as well. They also won the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle title for their first ICC trophy in over two decades. Smith credits the rise of Proteas cricket to SA20 and said: "We've been able to build a really high performing operational team, and delivering the tournament at scale in a really efficient way every year has really provided the base for our cricketers. And that's what we wanted to do."

"Now we get to put 60 or 70 of South Africa's top talent on the stage every year, which I think really was the major motivation. Everyone talks about the finances, but I think seeing South African cricket strong for all of us that have played and been a part of the system for a very long time, is what we wanted.

"There was a period where you would look at it and you were pretty nervous about where South African cricket was going to go. So in five years, to see our national team performing well, talent coming through, and that the system is relatively solid, I think is probably the biggest one out of all of it."