No R Ashwin & Piyush Chawla in SA20 Auction pool, Greame Smith explains reason for absence

This time around for the SA20 Auction, where 13 Indians had put in their entries, none of them could manage it to the final list of stars to go under the hammer. That came as a big surprise since the players who had entered the auction, included the likes of R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla, apart from Ankit Rajpoot and Siddharth Kaul.

R Ashwin Misses Cut for SA20 Auction

But their absence was inexplicable, especially after Dinesh Karthik had become the first Indian to play in the league, earlier in the year. Now, the League Commissioner Greame Smith has addressed the issue. As per him, it’s a fluid situation, since Indian players’ availability totally depends on their commitment to national cricket, where they only participate after retiring from all forms.

“Indian players is always a fluid situation depending on who’s retiring and who’s available. I think it was like 13 or 14 Indian players in the auction,” the former South African captain told Indian media in a virtual interaction. “What we do is we send the auction lists, which was over 800 names, to the franchises. They then send us their short-list back and then we collate a shortened list that goes to the auction.”

Sourav Ganguly Takes up Full-time Coaching Role

Meanwhile, there are only 25 slots to fill for the overseas players, while 59 places are to be filled by the South Africans, in the SA20 Auction that will take place on September 9. That said, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly will serve as the full-time coach of the Pretoria Capitals, after serving as the director/mentor of few teams in the past.

“For us, it’s exciting to have a coach of Dada’s quality. The quality of coaches across the board is exciting. It’s an exposure to our players to great minds. Dada is going to come and do things in his own way. Delhi Capitals didn’t have the best year last year. I am sure he will be motivated at the auction to get a quality group of players to take forward into the season,’ he added.