Karthik’s SA debut: More Indians to join league

New Delhi: Legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis hopes Dinesh Karthik’s imminent debut in the SA20 would lead to more retired Indian players joining the league.

Karthik, set to play for the Paarl Royals in the 2025 SA20, will become the first Indian cricketer to fea-ture in the league. He became eligible to play in the tournament after announcing his retirement from Indian cricket earlier this year. Karthik joined the Royals as a replacement for Jos Buttler, who opted out of the season. “It’s wonderful to have quality players, especially from India.

Hopefully it’s the start of many Indians coming,” SA20 Ambassador said in a virtual interaction. Un-der the current BCCI policy, Indian players are only permitted to participate in overseas leagues after retiring from all formats of the game, including the IPL. “It would be nice to have them yes definitely, but the obvious reasons are the BCCI will have to look after their own players so there has to be a fine balance,” the 49-year-old said.

“We are fortunate with the way SA20 has taken off. Having the backing of major franchises involved in the IPL certainly makes a big difference in delivering the product we have now.

“The IPL is always going to be number one. The product, the quality of players, the audience en-gagement—it’s on another level, streets ahead of anything else at the moment. We aim to get as close as possible to the IPL and create an exciting product for fans.”