SA players get richer as IPL squeezes cricket calendar

While world cricket may struggle with an expanding Indian Premier League (IPL), for South African cricketers, its effect has been largely positive, with the SA20 proving to be critical to the increasing numbers of players from this country participating in India this year.

SA has 17 players on the books of the 10 IPL franchises, including veterans like Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, who no longer have national contracts with Cricket SA, and teenager Kwena Maphaka, who signed with the Rajasthan Royals. “It is a reflection of the higher level of T20 cricket the players have been exposed to through SA20,” said SA Cricketers Association CEO Andrew Breetzke. 

With 15, Australia has the next highest number of players in cricket’s most lucrative competition, which started yesterday. 

For some of the South African players, the financial benefits are enormous, with Heinrich Klaasen pocketing R48m, Kagiso Rabada R23m and Tristan Stubbs R21m.

CSA gets a cut too, receiving a 10% “release fee” for each player that is contracted to the IPL. That is part of a mandate created by the ICC, which is viewed as compensation for national boards who have developed the players. 

While previously, contracts in the IPL were almost exclusively taken by a small group comprising top Proteas players, the SA20 has created what is effectively a shop window for a wider spectrum of players which has proved pivotal in increasing the number of participants. 

The likes of Donovan Ferreira, Maphaka and Corbin Bosch, who don’t have extensive international experience, have had their reputations enhanced by the SA20, impressing scouts in that tournament, where all the franchises are owned by the same entities that run teams in the IPL. 

In Bosch’s case, his outstanding displays for MI Cape Town saw him roped in by Mumbai Indians, although it could come at a cost for the 30 -year-old all-rounder, who had already signed a contract in the Pakistan Super League. That led the Pakistan Cricket Board to serve him with a legal notice for an alleged breach of contract. 

The biggest concern for boards like CSA, and the game in general, is the increasing time the IPL takes out of the calendar. The tournament is eight weeks long, but with players expected to be with their teams 10 days before the start, that stretches closer to 10 weeks. 

It may take even longer next year, with the IPL’s last broadcast rights deal stipulating 84 matches must be played as opposed to this year’s 74. That number could increase even further with 94 matches agreed for the 2027 season. 

“It has reached a point where international cricket will just have to accept that it needs to take place alongside the IPL,” said Breetzke, citing the current series taking place between New Zealand and Pakistan as one example. 

But the pressure is unceasing. Last year, South African players involved in the knockout stages of the IPL had to dash from India to New York to begin hasty preparations for the World T20. This year, should the likes of Rabada, Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen be involved in the final on May 25, it could affect their preparations for the Proteas’ World Test Championship final against Australia that starts on June 11 at Lord’s.

Shifting ICC events and series’ has become a common theme as a result of the IPL expansion and the growth of other leagues like the SA20 and England’s Hundred tournament, which will also come under IPL ownership in 2025.

Later this year, the Proteas will be playing away from home in December, which traditionally has been when international cricket begins in SA. The Proteas men will play just five T20 internationals on home soil next summer, with no Tests scheduled for the first time in the post-isolation era. 

It does raise the prospect of the Proteas being World Test champions, but not being able to play a Test match on home soil until September next year, which will be a source of huge embarrassment for CSA. 

The SA20 will be shifted from its usual start in January to Boxing Day, somewhat bailing out the CSA over the holiday period.