Legendary South Africa National Cricket Team all-rounder Jacques Kallis has asserted that everyone is pretty excited for the inaugural edition of SA20, which he feels will have a “very high” standard.

The inaugural edition of Cricket South Africa’s T20 League, SA20, is scheduled to be played from January 10 to February 11 in 2023 and all the six franchises in the tournament have been acquired by current Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners.

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The owners of Mumbai Indians have bought the Cape Town franchise, Lucknow Super Giants owners have purchased the Durban franchise and Chennai Super Kings owners have bought the Johannesburg franchise.

Also, Sunrisers Hyderabad owners have bought the Gqeberha franchise, Rajasthan Royals owners have acquired the Paarl franchise and Delhi Capitals co-owners have acquired the Pretoria franchise.

Meanwhile, Jacques Kallis, who will be the assistant coach of the Pretoria Capitals, has said that CSA’s T20 League will help in improving the local competition in the country.

“I think South African cricket has been crying out for this for a long time. I think we’ve seen the wonderful job it’s (franchise league cricket) done around the world in terms of how the local competition has improved cricket,” Kallis said at the launch of SA T20 league.

“I have no doubt it’s going to be the same here and everyone is looking forward to it. The standard will be very high,” Kallis said.

It is going to improve the young guys coming through – Jacques Kallis

The 47-year-old feels that the SA20 will provide great exposure to young local talent in South Africa.

“Having international players and coaches is also certainly going to provide a good product. It is going to improve the young guys coming through.

“With everything being televised, it’s a great opportunity for the guys to put their name out there, whether it be for international cricket, or other leagues around the world. What better stage for these young guys to put their hand up in this competition?” Kallis added.

He added that each and every team in CSA’s new T20 competition have got a great squad.

“The good thing about all these games is that they are like derbies. And when you look at the teams on paper they are of equal strength and that bodes well for the competition because any one team can beat another,” Kallis said.

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