SA20: No Indian in shortlisted pool of 541 players for season 4 auction

A total of 541 players have been finalised for the auction of the fourth season of SA20, with no Indians featuring in the list. The SA20 2025-26 auction is scheduled to be held on September 9 in Johannesburg, while the tournament is set to begin on December 26, 2025.

The T20 extravaganza saw over 800 player registrations - the highest ever in the competition’s four-year history. Around 13 Indians had reportedly registered themselves for the bidding event, namely Piyush Chawla, Siddharth Kaul, among others. Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently announced his IPL retirement, had revealed that he has registered for a foreign T20 league.

However, his name was also nowhere to be found in the final list of players. Out of 541 players finalised, 300 are South Africans and 241 are overseas players. Legendary Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and England seamer James Anderson headline the long list of international stars.

Shakib could well become the first Bangladeshi player to feature in SA20. From England, apart from Anderson, Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Adam Rossington, Jordan Cox and Daniel Worrall, among others, also feature in the final list.

Big names from South Africa include Aiden Markram, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottneil Baartman and Gerald Coetzee. ICC Test World Champions Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Tony de Zorzi and Dane Paterson also feature prominently on the list.

A total of 84 available slots are left to be filled across six franchises, having a collective purse amount of R131 million (US$7,37 million), out of which 25 slots are for overseas players. All squads are required to include 19 players, with a minimum of 9 South African players, a maximum of 7 international players, two U23 South African players, and a Wildcard player.