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A new chapter in South African cricket will be written when the SA20 League begins in South Africa from January 10 to the February 11, 2023.
The league is a step forward for South African cricket, which had a dismal ICC Men's T20 World Cup and will be looking to put the tournament behind them. The SA20 League will provide a platform for budding South African cricketers while also featuring international players from top sides around the world. Each of the six SA20 franchises - MI Cape Town (MICT), Paarl Royals (PR), Pretoria Capitals (PC), Joburg Super Kings (JSK), Durban's Super Giants (DSG) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) will be playing five home and five away matches followed by the knock-out stages, i.e the semi-finals and the finals. The tournament has garnered a lot of media attention not only for being the first T20 franchise league to be organised in South Africa but also for the fact that all six teams are owned by IPL franchise owners. Cricket fans in India will be geared up to watch the tournament as MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals battle it out in the tournament opener on January 10, 2023, which will be available on Viacom 18 Sports, a SA20 League release said. Speaking in an interview with the SA20 League, South African cricketers Quinton de Kock and Keshav Maharaj spoke on the excitement of such a major tournament in South Africa and how beneficial it will be for cricketers playing in the league. Quinton De Kock said he was looking forward to the unexpected. "Pretty much it's a new tournament, so, I guess looking forward to the unexpected, we've had a couple of these tournaments, and there hasn't been one in a while. Obviously, it's a quite big event, I think this would be one of the bigger events in the local franchise system. A lot of youngsters who haven't been part of the big tournament will be involved in this, so it will be good for the new guys and obviously for the guys who've been around in serving cricket. This is also new for us, so, this would be amazing another new comp, so I can't wait," he said. "I've played with everyone, I know what I'm dealing with, and so, I know the boys are going to have a lot of fun with the children, with the fisherman as well. So I know that's what I'm dealing with, so it's pretty easy for me," he added. Keshav Maharaj said he was looking forward to rubbing shoulders with some new faces. "I'm looking forward to obviously rubbing shoulders with some new faces, learning more about the game from some T20 specialist, but most importantly making new friendships on and off the field and yeah playing in my hometown, most especially Durban. The tournament will provide an opportunity for South African players to learn from some of the best in the world in T20 cricket. It will also allow young players to show their dexterity and skills on a bigger platform. "Well, Quinton played with pretty much everyone, I'm looking forward to playing with Kyle Mayers and Jason Holder, having seen what they did in this last Caribbean League, it's actually quite exciting, bringing some proper flair and some interesting cricketing shots, so looking forward to that," he said. (ANI)
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