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Cricket One of the new T20 leagues for men's cricket, the SA20, has announced rule changes, one of which is letting captains pick their starting XI after the toss. This league will begin play in 2023.
In cricket, the starting XIs are typically determined prior to the coin toss and cannot be altered depending on whether a team is batting or bowling first.
However, SA20 said in their rules of play that prior to the toss, each captain may name up to 13 men to enter the field. After the toss, the captain can choose their final starting lineup, and the other players will be converted into substitutes.
The winning team will receive four points with the option to add an additional point to make it five, which is another change to push teams to go for large wins. The team that achieves a run rate that is 1.25 times higher than the opposition will receive the additional point. In the event of a tie, each side will earn two points, with the losing team receiving none.
There has been a change to the free-hit rule, with a bowled dismissal not resulting in byes if the ball ricochets off the stumps. This change may be in response to what we seen at the MCG between India and Pakistan during the World Cup and the Women's Big Bash League the year prior. The league further said that if a straight hit deflects off the stumps, no runs can be deducted from an intentional effort to run out the hitter.
IPL teams owned franchises
Over the course of four weeks, the league will include 33 games between six organisations.
Six independently owned teams from IPL franchises will play each other twice in a round-robin stage (at home and away) before the semifinals and championship. 33 games will be played in total at some of South Africa's most well-known venues, including King'smead in Durban, Wanderers in Johannesburg, Newlands in Cape Town, Boland Park in Paarl, SuperSport Park in Pretoria, and St. George's Park in the Eastern Cape for the Sunrisers.
The team that finished first in the group stages will face the team that came in fourth in the first semi-final. The second semi-final will feature the second- and third-placed teams, respectively. The final will be contested by the winners of the two semi-finals. During the R125 million player auction, the six teams decided on their final 17-person rosters. Up to four foreign players from each squad may compete in a given match.
SA20 commissioner and former Test captain Graeme Smith stated, "We want to do our part in restoring (South African) cricket." "We aim to re-ignite the crowd's cheering inside the stadium."
Online tickets for the opening match between MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals on Tuesday, according to the organisers, have already been sold out. Offshoots of the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians will square off in the opening game.
The Cape Town team, which also includes England's Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, and Jofra Archer, who is making his comeback to competitive cricket after injuries, will be captained by Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.
Jos Buttler, the captain of England's white-ball team who led his nation to victory in the T20 World Cup, is the marquee acquisition for Paarl Royals, a team that will be led by South African hitter David Miller.
Former England captain Eoin Morgan and starting pitcher Jason Roy are other prominent players for the Royals.
"A hugely crucial event in South Africa's cricket history," according to Buttler, is the SA20.
There are no players from India, Pakistan, or Australia, despite the fact that there is a sizable contingent of West Indian and English players.
Even though the teams are owned by Indians, the Indian board forbids its players from competing in foreign leagues.
The SA20 collides with the Big Bash in Australia and a brand-new competition in the United Arab Emirates.
The competition takes place during what has historically been a crucial period of the domestic international season and ends on February 11.
In order to guarantee the availability of the top local players for the SA20, a one-day international series in Australia was forfeited, endangering South Africa's chances of automatically qualifying for this year's World Cup.
Cricket South Africa has decided to cut back on its international obligations, particularly Test matches, with the majority of series over the next four years just featuring two games.
When the newest future tours programme was presented, chief executive Pholetsi Moseki said: "You can argue the programme is light, but that was intentional on our side. We had to clear space for our brand-new T20 competition.
Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Viacom18 in India have purchased the television rights.
The SA20 represents South Africa's third effort to launch a successful T20 competition. The leading sports broadcaster in Africa, SuperSport, is the title sponsor and a television partner of the SA20, unlike the previous two tournaments.