CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s star cricketers, Aiden Markram, David Miller, and Keshav Maharaj, talked about the upcoming SA20 League and how the tournament builds up nicely for the T20 World Cup.
Set to unfold from January 10 to February 10, the tournament will feature a total of six teams, namely the Durban Super Giants, Joburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town, Paarl Royals, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and Pretoria Capitals.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape had won the inaugural season, beating Pretoria Capitals in the final back in February this year.
Paarl Royals skipper David Miller is looking forward to playing in the second season of the SA20 after the success of the inaugural season.
“I am very excited, from what happened last season, the success that we had I am really looking forward to this year. Big crowd, lot of entertainment and seriously good players all the way through the country so it has been a big buildup. It is a big one; there is the IPL and then there is this competition so the more games you play, the more experience you gain so it really leads nicely to the World Cup. It gives a great platform for June,” Miller told ANI.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Aiden Markram feels that SA20 is going to be a huge tournament as it goes forward.
“It is very exciting, last year it was a fantastic competition to be a part of and a great start to be what I believe, it will be a huge tournament moving forward. IPL gets huge appreciation because of how successful it has been for so many years. I think SA20 can grow each player,” Markram told ANI.
Markram scored a ton in the second Test against India on a surface that played all sorts of tricks with the uneven bounce. His performance was deemed one of the knocks that will be remembered for many years to come.
But he isn’t to keen to dwell on his recent performance, as he feels that the SA20 will bring a different sort of challenge.
“It is nice to play a knock like that it fills you with confidence. To be able to take that form to SA20 is a nice place to be for myself. Still you respect the fact that you are going into a new competition a new game and you have to reset because it is a different format. If I can re allign the form then it would be great for me but there are no guarantees,” Markram added.
Finally, Durban Super Giants captain Keshav Maharaj is focusing on the team performing better than they did last season.
“Very much excited, we got a taste of it last season. I hope we can do better than we did last year. The transition is a lot different from Test to T20 cricket. I have been in the nets with the boys then hopefully building up nicely for the game on Thursday,” Maharaj told ANI.
The first match of the SA20 will be played on Wednesday between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings. (ANI)
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