After a remarkable first three seasons, which have cemented the league as the second-best franchise-based cricket league in the world behind the Indian Premier League (IPL), the SA20 will gear up for a year of huge changes ahead of the fourth season.
The league will see its second mega auction and the first since the league started. Several top players will go under the hammer as the six franchises are expected to spend big money to build a title-winning squad. It is worth noting that all six teams are sister teams of IPL franchises with the same owners.
“The auction is always exciting, no matter the tournament, but SA20 is the big one, with most of the players back in the pool. There have been a lot of retentions and several wild cards picked up, so it will be interesting to see how the teams go about building their squads. Some teams have plenty of money to spend, while others have already filled half their squads and don’t have much left in the purse. This means a lot of domestic players will be putting their hands up this season, and they’re likely to get opportunities because of the financial dynamics at play. I’ve already started my homework, looking at the teams, the squads, and who’s available, and I have a few ideas of where players might land. It’s a great time of the year, and SA20 is going to be even bigger this season,” said ex-South African all-rounder Chris Morris ahead of the auction in an interaction with SA20
SA20 2026 Auction – All You Need To Know
Date, Venue, and Players
The 2026 SA20 auction will take place on September 9 in Johannesburg. Players have until August 18 to register, post which the full list of players set to go under the hammer will be known.
Retained Players And Wildcard
Teams have already announced their list of retained players after being allowed to keep hold of a maximum of six players, with a maximum of three South African and overseas players each. The SA20 also introduced a wildcard system that allowed teams to sign a player outside the auction whose salary will not be inside the salary cap allocated to each franchise.
Complete list of players retained and remaining salary cap follows –
Durban’s Super Giants – R29.5 million (Rs. 14.7 crores approx)
*Sunil Narine, *Noor Ahmad, *Jos Buttler, Heinrich Klaasen (Wildcard)
Joburg Super Kings – R21.5 million (Rs. 10.7 crores approx)
Faf du Plessis, *James Vince, *Akeal Hosein, *Richard Gleeson, Donovan Ferreira (Wildcard)
MI Cape Town – R11.5 million (Rs. 5.73 crores approx)
Ryan Rickelton, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, *Rashid Khan, *Trent Boult, *Nicholas Pooran, Kagiso Rabada (Wildcard)
Paarl Royals – R14.5 million (Rs. 7.22 crores approx)
Lhuan-dre Pretorius, David Miller, Bjorn Fortuin, *Mujeeb Ur Rahman, *Sikandar Raza, Rubin Hermann (Wildcard)
Pretoria Capitals – R32.5 million (Rs. 16.9 crores approx)
*Will Jacks, *Sherfane Rutherford, *Andre Russell (Wildcard)
Sunrisers Eastern Cape – R21.5 million (Rs. 10.7 crores approx)
Tristan Stubbs, *Allah Ghazanfar, *Adam Milne, *Jonny Bairstow, Marco Jansen (Wildcard)
*-overseas players
Salary Cap And Auction Rules
Overall, each team has a salary cap of R41 million (Rs. 20.42 crores), which has been described by the league as the second-highest across the world behind the IPL.
Each team will also have a Right to Match (RTM) card for the first time in the auction and the number will vary for each side.
Which Players Will Earn The Big Money?
The likes of Dewald Brevis and Aiden Markram decided to enter the auction instead of being retained and are likely to earn big bucks.
“Sunrisers haven’t retained him, but they do have a right-to-match card, meaning they can match the final bid for him and retain his services. That opens the door for mind games – other teams could bid aggressively to push his price high enough to make it difficult for the Sunrisers to bring him back. Two teams stand out to me: MI Cape Town, which would solve their captaincy question – not that Rashid Khan is doing a bad job – but having a successful local international captain at number four would be a big boost, especially since they’ve released Rassie van der Dussen, leaving a vacancy at number three. The other is Pretoria Capitals, who have one of the largest remaining purses. He’s a local player, would fill their captaincy role, slot in at number three, and bring strong leadership after Rilee Rossouw’s stint last year. Either way, Aiden Markram is going to be hot property,” said Morris.
“I think Kwena Maphaka is going to be at the centre of a bidding frenzy. Dewald Brevis is another, given he hasn’t been retained. Rassie van der Dussen, with his experience, could also be in demand. Personally, I always look out for the player who ends up going for a surprisingly high price – the buy of the tournament that no one saw coming. For me, Delano Potgieter could be that player. He’s been successful in SA20, has done well for MI Cape Town, and is a proven performer in domestic cricket. He covers multiple roles and adds great balance to a squad – the kind of player I’d sign straight away,” Morris added.