Aiden Markram hopes players stay focused on T20 World Cup:Graeme Smith says, ‘want to bring 50-60 players to the global stage/year’

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith believes that the team’s success should be credited to the players. He said, “I think the players and the national team should be credited for their performance in the last few years. The league is working towards providing strong options for the national team.” Over the last few years, South Africa’s women’s and men’s teams have performed exceptionally well. The team won the World Test Championship in June 2025. Not only that, they were runners-up in the Women’s ODI World Cup and the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2024. On the question from Bhaskar English regarding the role of the SA20 league in the team’s success, Graeme said, “Regarding our role, we have always said that we want to bring 50-60 players to the global stage every year. We want to expose them to excellent cricket and help develop the player pool for national teams.” He further said, “I think over the past few years we have certainly seen many players develop their game and talented youngsters become great international cricketers.” Smith was answering questions from journalists in the ‘Jiostar Press Room’ ahead of the fourth season of SA20, which starts on 26 December. Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram were also present. Rabada said- ‘Good opportunity to prepare for the World Cup’ South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada said that the SA20 league will give them a great opportunity to spend time on the field before next year’s T20 World Cup. Rabada was not part of South Africa’s tour of India due to a rib injury. But he wants to improve his skills with MI Cape Town in this league. Rabada said, “Yes, this is a great opportunity to play matches and adapt ourselves to the T20 format. We haven’t played much T20 cricket this year. So yes, this is going to be a great tournament.” Rabada feels that playing in different conditions across South Africa during the league will provide a good challenge for the players before the big ICC tournament. Markram said, ‘We have enough matches before the World Cup’ South Africa’s T20 captain Aiden Markram said, “It’s a very good thing that we will play T20 cricket until a few days before the World Cup starts, but I don’t think you’d want to put too much energy into your league teams. We will ask the players to worry about the World Cup.” Markram, captain of the Durban Super Giants in the league, said, “Both tournaments are completely different. I think it’s important that players take it that way. By the time the World Cup arrives, players will have played numerous T20 matches. Hopefully, we will have good confidence and form that we can carry forward.” Maharaj excited to be with Ganguly-Pollock Pretoria Capitals captain Keshav Maharaj is very excited to have former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and former all-rounder Shaun Pollock in his coaching staff. Maharaj said, “Of course, this is my first year with Pretoria Capitals. There have been some conversations with Sourav sir, so I’m really excited.” He said, “Generally, a lot of runs are scored in Pretoria, so I think you want to let the batsmen do their job and as a bowler, find ways to deal with it. But it’s really exciting. We have some legends of the game in our coaching staff, and I’m looking forward to learning from their knowledge and energy when the competition starts.”