The flagship T20 event in South Africa, SA20 2025 is gearing up to stage its largest auction to date–yet, again, Pakistani cricket fans will not be able to watch their stars play, with no Pakistani players making the final list.
Tournament organizers announced that 541 entrants are shortlisted of more than 800 applications, the highest number of entrants in its four-year history. The list consists of 300 South Africans and 241 foreign cricketers, but there is no Pakistani talent here again.
This omission is nominal because at the inception of the league no Pakistani cricketer has ever been featured in SA20. Although the organizers have not given a formal reason, analysts attribute the omission to political considerations, especially since all six of the franchises, namely MI Cape Town, Joburg Super Kings, Durban Super Giants, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Paarl Royals, and Pretoria Capitals, are owned by an IPL group, a league in which Pakistani players had long been banned.
Read more: SA20 2025 Begins Today as Sunrisers Face MI Cape Town in Opening Match
Conversely, Pakistani celebrities like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan are some of the most in-demand players in international T20 tournaments like the Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League, The Hundred, ILT20 and Major League Cricket. They are not part of SA20 2025 and that is why fans wonder when they will ever be welcomed in future seasons.
As it will cost R131 million (US 7.37m) to fill 84 squad vacancies, hype is mounting in the run-up to the auction on September 9 in Johannesburg. SA20 2025 might struggle to get the global status it wants until Pakistani players become part of the action, which begins December 26.
