SA20 season 4 auction to bring squad tweaks and big bids

SA20 Season 4 will feature strategic changes like RTM cards, a record USD 2.3 million salary cap, and 72 auction slots, promising exciting team moves and strong competition

Hyderabad: This year’s SA20 event promises to bring a few changes among the squads, along with high-stakes bidding, with a minimum of 72 player slots available for auction.

The squad composition remains the same, with the league continuing to prioritise opportunities for local talent on a global platform. Of the 18 players in a regular squad, teams can sign a maximum of 7 overseas players and a minimum of 11 South African players.

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Season 4 will again see teams being able to sign one Wildcard player per squad. The Wildcard can be a South African or an overseas player, and their league fee falls outside the salary cap. Prior to the auction, franchises are permitted no more than 6 retentions or pre-signed players, comprising a maximum of 3 overseas and 3 South African players.

This year features the largest salary cap in the history of the competition — a sizeable USD 2.3 million purse for each of the six franchises to build their squads. The salary cap has steadily increased since USD 1.9 million in Season 1, making it the highest franchise T20 league salary cap outside of India.

In a SA20 first, a major strategic innovation has been introduced for Season 4 with the Right to Match (RTM) cards. An RTM card allows a franchise to match a winning auction bid on a player who played for the same team in Season 3 and retain his services for Season 4. Each team will have a limited number of RTM cards based on the number of South African player retentions used before the auction.

“The SA20 Season 4 player auction is setting up to be the most exciting yet, with about 60% of player slots available for franchises to fill. Mechanisms such as RTM cards, Wildcard players, and an increased salary cap are sure to create interesting situations for teams and allow them to strategically select their squads,” said Stephen Cook, Head of Cricket Operations, SA20.

“We have seen some life-changing transactions already in the past few years, and the upcoming auction should see plenty more,” he added.