There are six teams vying for the inaugural SA20 title, with the two sides from the Western Cape — MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals — opening the tournament on Tuesday at Newlands Stadium.

Gauteng also has two teams — the Joburg Super Kings and the Pretoria Capitals.

In the east, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape will play out of the windy city of Gqeberha, while in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban’s Super Giants will hope the rain stays away from Kingsmead for the duration of the tournament.

MI Cape Town

MI Cape Town has the only non-South African captain in Rashid Khan, the leg-spinning all-rounder from Afghanistan.

The T20 maverick is regarded as one of the best bowlers on the planet and is ranked No 2 in the world.

The side will play out of the picturesque Newlands Cricket Ground. However, they play their last home match on 23 January, after which all their games will be away, regardless of where they finish on the standings.

Former Australian batter Simon Katich will coach the side from Cape Town.

They boast a star-studded lineup that includes Proteas pace ace Kagiso Rabada, batting prodigy Dewald Brevis and England T20 stars Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone.

Proteas batters Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton are also in their ranks, as well as experienced local fast bowler, Beuran Hendricks.

Paarl Royals

There will be an air of expectation surrounding the Paarl Royals in the first SA20 season. In the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008, their namesake, the Rajasthan Royals, claimed the inaugural series title.

Paarl Royals captain, David Miller, confirmed that there have been conversations in the dressing room about efforts to emulate that famous victory.

The side will be coached by JP Duminy in his first stint as head coach of a professional team since retiring from playing in 2019.

The Royals from Paarl have two World Cup-winning captains in their ranks in Eoin Morgan (50-over) and Jos Buttler (T20) who both won the most recent limited-over World Cups with England.

South African-born England opening batter Jason Roy is also among their ranks.

Of the South African contingent, fast bowler Lungi Ngidi and spinner Tabraiz Shamsi are the big local stars.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape

The famous, buzzing band, along with local supporters at St George’s Park, will be in full voice when the Sunrisers Eastern Cape play their first match of the tournament on Thursday against the Pretoria Capitals.

Proteas batter Aiden Markram will lead the Sunrisers Eastern Cape on the field. Markram is no stranger to winning trophies as a captain, having led the SA under-19 team to victory in the junior World Cup in 2014.

Eastern Cape local Adrian Birrell is the head coach of the new franchise.

Legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn is the bowling coach of the coastal team. He will have lots of talent to work with as Sisanda Magala, Ottniel Baartman and Marco Jansen are among their ranks.

The explosive Tristan Stubbs, who was the priciest player at the auction, will almost certainly have a massive impact on the league, especially at St George’s Park where he plays his domestic cricket for the Warriors.

Pretoria Capitals

Pretoria is no stranger to success. The Titans are the most successful South African domestic team, with 20 titles, also clinching the most recent CSA T20 Challenge at the end of last year.

This is something Pretoria Capitals captain Wayne Parnell is well aware of.  “Centurion is a place where there has been a lot of success,” Parnell said.

“There’s pressure from the people of Pretoria to do well and we want to stay on that path.”

He will share the leadership reins with experienced coach, Graham Ford.

The Capitals have a stacked fast-bowling contingency with Daryn Dupavillon, Anrich Nortje, Migael Pretorius and Eathan Bosch all joining Parnell.

English duo Phil Salt and Adil Rashid, along with New Zealand all-rounder James Neesham, will add international experience to the side. 

Joburg Super Kings

The Super Kings from Johannesburg and the Super Kings from Chennai share a few similarities besides the owners. Chennai coach Stephen Fleming takes over in Johannesburg as well.

Faf du Plessis — who played for the Chennai side for seven years — captains the Joburg Super Kings.

Big-hitter Donovan Ferreira is an exciting young prospect and should thrive on the highveld at the Wanderers where the ball tends to travel that little bit further.

The Super Kings also boast a thrilling fast-bowling quartet in Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Alzarri Joseph and Romario Shepherd.

Their top order is extremely solid with the Proteas’ Janneman Malan, Du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks likely occupying the pivotal roles.

Durban Super Giants

The side from KwaZulu-Natal boasts two leaders who prefer to do their talking on the field — Quinton de Kock as captain and Lance Klusener as coach.

The soft-spoken pair have a few other leaders to turn to in the squad, such as Keshav Maharaj, Jason Holder and Prenelan Subrayen.

Finding the correct balance and juggling the playing 11 might be Klusener’s biggest challenge as the squad has seven overseas players — Johnson Charles, Holder, Kyle Mayers, Keemo Paul (all West Indies), Akila Dananjaya, Dilshan Madushanka (both Sri Lankan) and Reece Topley (England) — in their 18-man squad.

Durban often has summer thunderstorms, but the Super Giants will hope the inclement weather at least stays away for their first game against the Joburg Super Kings on Wednesday. DM