It’s a ‘fluid situation’: Graeme Smith on absence of Indian players in SA20 auction pool | Cricket News

“Indian players is always a fluid situation depending on who’s retiring and who’s available. I think it was like 13 or 14 Indian players in the auction,” the former South African captain told Indian media in a virtual interaction facilitated by SA20.

The players who had registered for the SA20 2026 auction included Piyush Chawla, Siddharth Kaul, Ankit Rajpoot, Sarul Kanwar, Anureet Singh Kathuria, Ansari Marouf, Mahesh Ahir, Nikhil Jaga, Mohamed Faidh, KS Naveen, Imran Khan, Venkatesh Galipelly, and Atul Yadav.

But they could not make the short list.

The BCCI bars active Indian cricketers — international or domestic — from playing in overseas leagues to protect the IPL’s exclusivity.

Players must first retire from all forms of Indian cricket and then secure an NOC from the Board before seeking overseas opportunities.

Ravichandran Ashwin fell into that category but the off-spinner, who retired from IPL recently, has registered for UAE’s ILT20 to be held around the same time.

Smith explains auction process

Explaining the auction process, Smith said: “What we do is we send the auction lists, which was over 800 names, to the franchises. They then send us their short-list back and then we collate a shortened list that goes to the auction.

“For us this year, it was a big stepping stone. It was also, you know, after three years of the tournament, we felt that it was a time to kind of reset the regulations.” On the absence of Indians, Smith said: “You don’t see an abundance of them involved in T20 leagues around the world. It’s not a new thing. One thing that we have seen from our stats is that we’ve built a really strong viewership in India.” Dinesh Karthik became the first Indian to feature in SA20 earlier this year in the last edition, making his debut for Paarl Royals in January 2025 after retiring from Indian cricket.

Former England pacer James Anderson headlines the overseas pool as the 43-year-old, who recently returned to T20s after more than a decade with Lancashire and Manchester Originals, is among 96 Englishmen in the auction, alongside Moeen Ali, Alex Hales among others.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will take on the role of head coach of Pretoria Capitals in the upcoming SA20 season.

“For us, it’s exciting to have a coach of Dada’s quality. The quality of coaches across the board is exciting. It’s an exposure to our players to great minds. Dada is going to come and do things in his own way. Delhi Capitals didn’t have the best year last year.

“I am sure he will be motivated at the auction to get a quality group of players to take forward into the season,’ he added.

Smith further credited the SA20 for bolstering South African cricket.

The Proteas have enjoyed a strong run in 2025, winning the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s in June ending a wait spanning 27 years stretching back to 1998 Champions Trophy.

Recently they sealed an ODI series win over Australia and England, with youngsters like Matthew Breetzke making their mark.

“Absolutely. If you think about where South African cricket was four or five years ago, it’s really strengthened dramatically. We’re seeing crowds back, new fans coming into the game, and now a much bigger, high-performing talent pool for the national team,” he said.

“IPL has benefited Indian cricket enormously, and we’re starting to see and reap the benefits of that for SA20 and South African cricket.

“South African cricket now has a lot more depth. As long as you can produce talent and quality, they can perform in all formats.” Newlands will host the opening match as well as the final of the SA20 2025-26 on January 25.

The season four will get underway on December 26 with defending champions MI Cape Town taking on Durban’s Super Giants.