CHENNAI: When Cricket South Africa kick-started the inaugural edition of the SA20 League in 2023, they knew they had to get it right. They had tried different versions of T20 leagues in the past, none worked. This was perhaps their biggest move, with IPL teams coming into fray, and should it fail, it would have been hard to recover.
After two seasons and a record footfall this year, Graeme Smith, former captain and the league commissioner, is a happy man. If the first edition brought a flavour that had been missing to the South African summer, the second one saw about 3,80,000 people come to the ground. "It was crucial that we got this right," recalled Smith at SA20 India Day.
"A lot of hard work went in the beginning to getting the structures right, to getting the business model right as well. It was about trying to attract the right type of partners. We were very fortunate at the time that some of the most experienced franchises in world cricket, the best, the most competitive, are the IPL franchises.
They attract the best players. For me, one of the standouts is being in that first week of cricket and standing in each stadium and seeing how the fans are dressed in the colours of the franchises and how much they're behind their teams. And that's been brilliant."
"In South Africa, for a long period of time, through politics and other reasons, cricket had lost its way. The last domestic game in South Africa that sold out was in the 90s before SA20. And I think last year we averaged over 380,000 people through our gates, which is just record attendance. A lot of it has to go to the quality of the event, the quality of the franchises," he added.
If the first two years had been about building a fan base, establishing the window while having the best players available for the tournament, the next step is building on the platform and growing from strength to strength. In that process, they have brought in Dinesh Karthik, the first Indian set to play in SA20 League, who will represent Paarl Royals in the third season that starts on January 9, 2025. Former South African legend Mark Boucher was named as the ambassador for the tournament. Smith feels the goal is to work towards becoming the best T20 league after IPL in the world.
"Our ambition, it doesn't sound right to say you want to be the number two league in the world, but I think, being realistic, IPL is just incredible. It's a beast. It's been the driving force for a lot of change in the cricketing landscape. And we've been fortunate to attract six franchises from the IPL to work with the BCCI in terms of developing SA20, and learning from what they've done very well over the years. For us, two seasons in, the stats, the viewership, the digital stats, the crowd attendance is all starting to show that we are the number two league," said Smith
"And, for us now, it's about growth. It's about building on that and making sure we go from strength to strength. And, I remember in the beginning conversation with international players that were uncertain about coming to South Africa because of the failed attempts. Now what you're starting to see is that the players want to be a part of it because it's competitive. Crowds are great, it's summer. South Africa's a great place to come as well. So, you know, that's very exciting for us."
For Karthik, who retired from the IPL after the 2024 season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it was a straightforward choice. "I've watched both the editions very closely because a lot of the players that I've played with in IPL teams have played in that tournament. South Africa has been a very fond place for me because of the memories I've had. The fact that South Africa have had a very good domestic structure over a period of time, I think you could almost say they were frontrunners to be a very good tournament. On top of that, the teams that assemble there, the six franchises that represent the domestic structure there, have been very good in terms of the assortment of players they've got. I'm very happy to be part of it. And from afar, observing it, I only have good things to say. It's just that I was happy I got picked up by the Royals. Any other offer from anybody else, I would have been tempted as well," said Karthik.