Is SA20 the future of T20 cricket?

T20 cricket has been constantly evolving since its inception. From the kick and giggle that was marketed in 2003 to the ever-expanding jacket that occupies most of the interest within cricket in 2023, it has been a necessary change to help the sport stay in touch with younger demographics and grow. in the 21st century.

The SA20 is a newly formed competition consisting of six teams across South Africa that are all owned by IPL franchises. For example, Joburg Super Kings is owned and managed by Chennai Super Kings, Durban SuperGiants is owned and managed by Lucknow SuperGiants and the same goes for the other four teams. To basically sum it up, it’s the IPL – South Africa edition.

Many IPL clubs have now started branching out into T20 leagues overseas, as recently shown in the ILT20 which is located in the United Arab Emirates with Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals also owning a team as well as Kolkata’s involvement with Trinidad and Tobago. Knight Riders in the CPL.

This ever-expanding offshoot of IPL franchises draws similar comparisons to City Football Group, which currently owns Manchester City, Melbourne City, New York City FC and various football clubs around the world. This expansion of franchise cricket into other competitions has been slowly building for a while now and seems to have taken the next step towards where all teams within a T20 league are owned by other teams.

But should we as a cricket community embrace the possibility of privately owned franchises like those in the IPL having greater involvement in other domestic T20 leagues?

While in other domestic T20 competitions such as Australia’s BBL, England’s T20 Blast and NZ’s Super Smash teams are fully owned and administered by the national cricket association, in the IPL the clubs are privately owned with the BCCI acting as the administrator.

(Photo should read SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images)

This change in models has allowed the IPL to grow into the biggest T20 league in the world due to the amount of money involved, to the point where it has essentially created its own block within the international calendar which has meant it can provide some of the world’s best talent to compete and thus maintain its status as the premier T20 competition.

Using the established brand names of these IPL franchises certainly helps in providing credibility for the newly formed league and can use its power to bring international talent to these competitions. This has been a key component for the SA20, which sees IPL franchises have their overseas players also join the league.

Players such as Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Jofra Archer, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers and Obed McCoy are all playing with their IPL associate club in the SA20.

While there may be ethical issues in monopolizing talent in this way, which may be perceived as anti-competitive, it allows foreign talent to play in these competitions, which generates interest within the competition creating revenue to pay them. them.

With the amount of money being invested in T20 by these privately owned franchises, it leaves competitions like the BBL playing catch-up.

We are already seeing leagues like the BBL begin to integrate features such as the draft as a way to keep up with trends by offering players a tiered ranking that determines their salary to help attract international talent.

The only problem with this is SA20, ILT20 and other foreign leagues that are privately owned can spend them and thus reduce the quality of their counterparts as shown by Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, James Vince and many others who all leave. halfway through the season to go and play in these new start-ups.

It seems that the future of T20 leagues as a whole is heading in the direction of private ownership and that it is slowly becoming an arms race for the domestic leagues to maintain their prestige. The only way to keep up with leagues such as BBL, Super Smash and T20 Blast is to open the doors to private ownership.

However, this is a double-edged sword that presents as many risks as rewards – just ask the now-defunct Mzansi Super League that SA20 is replacing, or even the AFL.

Perhaps the solution to this is for more national associations such as Cricket Australia and Cricket New Zealand to offer the ability of private ownership in teams by maintaining a 51 percent stake to still hold a majority stake, minimizing the potential for mismanagement while still creating the ability for more investment within these competitions to improve and attract top-level talent.

Regardless of what these national associations will do to maintain the level of competition they have, the dominance of private ownership in T20 cricket is no longer an issue that can be ignored. While the practice has definitely worked in the IPL, to assume that it can be copied and pasted as it has been in South Africa and the UAE and be as successful as the IPL is foolish.

The model presented by the ILT20 and SA20 certainly has a future within the sport, but caution should be taken regarding its longevity compared to its national association-supported and run competitions.