It has been announced that Cricket South Africa’s new T20 League under the leadership of Graeme Smith will be starting from January 2023.
The interesting part here is that all the teams have been bought by the owners of IPL teams.
Reliance Industries Limited (Mumbai Indians owner), Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited (Chennai Super Kings owner), Royals Sports Group (Rajasthan Royals owner), JSW Sports (Delhi Capitals co-owner), RPSG Sports Private Limited (Lucknow Super Giants owner) and Sun TV Network Limited (Sunrisers Hyderabad owner) were the buyers for the all 6 franchises.
“The six franchise owners for South Africa’s T20 League have been confirmed following a rigorous process over the past few months,” Cricket South Africa said in its release.
“The open bid process, managed by Deloitte Corporate Finance, attracted over 29 entities who expressed interest in owning a franchise worldwide. Over 10 venues were made available for interested bidders to own a franchise and all 10 of them received expressions of interest,” the statement added.
Reliance Industries’ new team will be based out of Newlands, Cape Town, while Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited will have its team in Wanderers, Johannesburg. RPSG Sports will have their team in Kingsmead, Durban, Sun TV Network’s team will be in St George’s Park, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), and Royals Sports Group’s team will be based out of Boland Park, Paarl. JSW Sports’s team is going to be SuperSport Park, Pretoria.
“We are thrilled to welcome our new franchise owners to the South African League taking place in January and February 2023. This is truly an exciting time for South African cricket; the overwhelming interest shows that the country remains valued in the global cricketing eco-system,” the new league’s commissioner Graeme Smith said.