CSA falls back on Indian players to bring back T20 Global League

India plays South Africa in a full series starting January next year.

The relationships between BCCI and CSA was bitter during Lorgat's tenure. (Getty)

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have confirmed that they are working on securing the availability of Indian players in the Twenty20 Global League as they search for ways to make the tournament financially viable.

India also has multiple broadcasters who CSA believe could enter the bidding process for broadcast rights, whereas SuperSport remains the only bidder in South Africa. As was reported by Cricbuzz at the time, a trio of CSA representatives traveled to India last month to meet with BCCI officials, with Indian player participation in foreign leagues one of their chief negotiation points.

"We are aware that there is a policy decision, but the fact that there is an appetite to talk about it, gives us hope," Chris Nenzani, CSA President, said at a briefing in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday (December 27). "There is no agreement at the moment but we will continue to discuss this over the summer. We believe having Indian players in the league could open up a huge market for us."

Relationships between the BCCI and CSA during Haroon Lorgat’s tenure was very slim and is thought to have affected his ability to negotiate a broadcast deal in India for the T20GL when he was attempting to save the league. The chances of CSA getting support from the Indian players look very slim keeping in mind that preventing the South African players from participating in the IPL will stop the influx the money for the players which will, in turn, put pressure on CSA to cover it up. Nenzani however, did not rule out using the threat in the long term if it was required.

"Necessarily as a person I don't like to strike deals where you say, 'If you give me this then I will give you that', because that is not sustainable. It is also limiting in terms of your future options," he said. "We are not offering them any particular reward, but we are saying to them that, in the interests of developing international cricket, and because we have our own players in the IPL, we have to find a way to also get support from India. It's going to take time. There might become a stage where we say, 'You give us your players because we are giving ours to you', but at this stage that is not the case. It's a long process” concluded Nenzani.

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 28 Dec, 2017

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