CHENNAI: As the inaugural SA20 league gets underway on Tuesday, former South Africa all-rounder and Joburg Super Kings (JSK) assistant coach Albie Morkel said that the tournament will build into one of the biggest in the world with all six teams in the league being owned by the Indian Premier League franchisees.
Speaking ahead of the franchise's first match, Morkel said that being associated with the established franchises gives the players and coaches assurance of longevity. "We have tried to launch a league in South Africa for the last few years but it has not been successful. Associations with teams like these guarantees longevity in terms of the tournament. It gives us players and coaches freedom of mindset that you have a couple of years to build something," said Morkel in a media interaction on Tuesday.
With JSK taking on Durban Super Giants in their opening game on Wednesday, Morkel said that the Faf du Plessis-led side has the experience and knowledge to thrive. "Chennai Super Kings has a strong culture, it is a team that has been very successful and we are hoping to replicate that in South Africa with Joburg Super Kings," said the former CSK all-rounder.
Morkel, who has played in various T20 leagues himself before getting into coaching, said that the sport is fast-moving towards franchise-based tournaments, with several such leagues popping up across the cricket calendar. "It is exciting for one, you know, it is not so good for national cricket as you have seen in the last couple of weeks you get guys that are sort of picked just to play in these leagues. Going forward, with all these leagues popping up, guys can start to pick and choose a little bit."
"I think once the bigger leagues sort of establish themselves and I firmly believe that SA20 league in future will be one of the biggest leagues. I think players will settle down a little bit more playing in all the big leagues. Workload within that is difficult to manage especially if you have players who play in other formats, I don't think it is possible for guys to play all the cricket within that you will see more and more players pick a route where they want to go."