AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle among marquee players named for CSA's new T20 league

What’s the story?

South Africa, set to replace the existing Ram Slam T20 with an IPL style tournament, has announced marquee players to represent the eight franchises in the South African Global T20 Destination League.

“The selection of our own South African marquee players has been very exciting. And it will be even more exciting when we engage fans to help us to allocate the ‘hometown hero’ to each franchise team. This announcement is another major step towards establishing our new T20 League in South Africa”, said Haroon Lorgat, CSA’s Chief Executive.

In case you didn’t know…

In February this year, Cricket South Africa announced the launch of a global T20 tournament, scheduled to take place in November this year. The Ram Slam T20, the current T20 league in the country, has been losing popularity over the last few seasons, even as other tournaments like the IPL and BBL have been ruling the roost.

The heart of the matter

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, along with the likes of Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller and Imran Tahir are the eight South African marquee players that have been announced for the eight franchises. and Hashim Amla, along with the likes of Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, JP Duminy, David Miller and Imran Tahir are the eight South African marquee players that have been announced for the eight franchises.

Apart from the local marquee players, eight overseas players: Kevin Pietersen, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Brendon McCullum, Lasith Malinga, Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan. Apart from Kevin Pietersen, and the injured Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, the rest of the players are currently associated with one of the IPL teams.Kevin Pietersen, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Brendon McCullum, Lasith Malinga, Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan. Apart from Kevin Pietersen, and the injured Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, the rest of the players are currently associated with one of the IPL teams.

Notable omissions include Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

What’s next?The eight new franchises will assemble in November this year, a month before the Big Bash starts in Australia. Although the exact teams and schedule is still in the dark, the big names are enough for the fans to mark their calendars well in advance.

Author’s TakeWhile the Ram Slam T20 was one of the first T20 leagues to emerge, it lost out to the likes of IPL and BBL, who managed to invest in foreign players and made the respective tournaments a success. Due to the clashing schedules and the availability of a separate window, players like AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis are big names in the IPL, but can’t garner the same interest in the BBL.

Hopefully for South Africa cricket, the franchise based model will help the country come at par with Australia and India as far as interest in domestic T20 leagues is concerned.