'SA20 most competitive league after IPL': Dinesh Karthik

SA20 India Ambassador Dinesh Karthik shared his insights on the exhilarating Season 3 of the SA20 league in a recent media interaction Karthik who has played in highpressure leagues such as the IPL emphasized the uniqueness of SA20 and its growing global appealOn SA20 creating excitement and a fan following not just in South Africa but also in India and other countries he saidA couple of things First theres always an inherent rivalry in good domestic cricket and South Africa as you can see has a lot of those rivalries Add to that the fact that Indian corporates have taken over those franchises and all of them participating in SA20 already have their rivalries and challenges from the IPL So it kind of carries over into the tournament As we all know the IPL is wellwatched around the world and South Africa is no exception These rivalries have really helped the quality of domestic cricketers who have come through For example if you take the final MI Cape Town played with just two foreign players and nine were locals which shows the strength of the squad in terms of domestic players and the trust they have in them And thats always a very healthy sign A lot of leagues have a higher number of foreign players than domestic ones So I think SA20 stands out The quality of cricket played over the 30 days was consistent and topnotchOn SA20 being the most competitive league after the IPL he saidI think at the moment SA20 is the most competitive league after the IPL I say this purely because of the quality of domestic talent available When you speak to domestic players they have been working hard to be part of this competition It matters a lot to them and thatrsquos a very healthy sign Secondly the fact that Indian owners already preexisting in the IPL are helping grow the game in their domestic circuit is another big plus Thatrsquos what you ideally want mdash not just a strong team for the competition but also an investment in grassroots so that it eventually helps in the long run Thatrsquos great to see during SA20On how tournaments like SA20 help players prepare for bigger tournaments and national duties he saidLook if you play a competitive tournament like SA20 the first thing is that your confidence increases The confidence you gain and the pool of players you can draw from is the biggest advantage of having a tournament like SA20 The confidence of players increases and theyrsquore better prepared to play in bigger games important matches Wersquove seen in the last two World Cups that South Africa has done really well in knockout matches which used to be an issue Irsquom sure SA20 has helped and played a part in this and the player pool has increasedOn the possibility of participating in SA20 again in the future either as a player or in another capacity he saidI would be more than happy to play again I thoroughly had a terrific experience and I would love to go back