Top 5 biggest controversies in SA20 history ft Kieron Pollard
The first edition of SA20, South Africa’s franchise T20 tournament, took place in 2023.
SA20 is one of the most entertaining franchise T20 leagues, which takes place in South Africa every year. The tournament witnessed its first edition in 2023, where Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the trophy by defeating Pretoria Capitals in the final. In the last few years, the tournament has gained wide popularity among Proteas fans and has become one of the most-watched tournaments in the world.
Although cricket is considered a Gentleman’s game, there often are a few moments where players lose their patience and engage in an altercation on the field. The pressure on the field often forces players to forget their sportsman spirit and engage in a war of words or wrong tactics with their opposition members.
While players often forget such fights after the match, such incidents become a talk of the town in the cricket fraternity. SA20 is no different and a few controversies have rocked the tournament for the last few years. On that note, below are the top five controversies in the SA20 history.
Top 5 biggest controversies in SA20 history
5. Heinrich Klaasen’s laser incident
During a clash between Durban Super Giants and MI Cape Town in SA20 2024, play was halted for a few moments after a fan pointed a laser at the pitch. The incident occurred in the second innings when Durban Super Giants were chasing 208 runs for victory. In the 10th over of Kagiso Rabada, some sort of crowd disturbance disrupted the play.
Later, it was revealed through commentators that a fan was shining a laser onto the pitch, which disturbed batsman Heinrich Klaasen’s vision. Although the event lasted only a few minutes, it made a lot of headlines in the newspapers.
4. Rashid Khan vs Richard Gleeson fight
MI Cape Town and Sunrisers Eastern Cape squared off in the final of the 2025 edition. Rashid Khan, who was captaining Cape Town in the match, got into a heated altercation with Richard Gleeson.
The fight was triggered after Gleeson said something to Rashid after dismissing him, which did not go well with the Afghanistan spinner. As Rashid confronted him while walking off the field, the umpires had to intervene and send him back.
3. Unsold ‘Temba Bavuma’
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma could not find any buyers in SA20 2025 auction, which took place in October 2024. None of the six franchises showed interest in grabbing him, although he was among the most sought-after players in the auction.
His absence from the tournament became a talking point as many experts debated whether franchises overlooked consistent performers over players with high marquee appeal.
2. Zainab Abbas’ collision with fielders
During a clash between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and MI Cape Town at the Centurion in the 2023 edition, Pakistan anchor Zainab Abbas fell on the ground due to a collision with a fielder. Abbas was commentating on the match just outside the boundary rope.
In the 13th over of Eastern Cape’s batting, Marco Jansen played a lofted shot towards mid-wicket off Sam Curran’s over. As two fielders desperately tried to stop the ball, they made a dash only to crash into her. Although she fell on the ground, she did not face any injuries and remained unhurt in the event.
1. Kieron Pollard becomes a pain in the rain
In the 2024 edition of South Africa’s franchise tournament, Kieron Pollard was accused of intentionally wasting time. In a rain-affected game, Joburg Super Kings were asked to chase 98 runs in 8 overs for victory. Faf du Plessis and Leus du Plooy were batting aggressively against the MI side.
Reaching 57 runs off three overs, they were almost certain to win the match and were far ahead of the DLS score. In the fourth over of Kagiso Rabada, MI captain Kieron Pollard instructed the pacer to take his run-up and pull out at the last moment to waste time.
As per the rules, a match needs to witness at least five overs to draw a result through the DLS method. Hence, Kieron was trying to waste time so that the rain could hamper the match once again before five overs.
Plessis was furious over the incident and called out the MI captain for his intentional act. The event caught the attention of many cricket fans, and they slammed Pollard for his wrong tactics on the micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter). Eventually, Super Kings won the clash.
When did the first edition of SA20 take place?
The first edition of SA20 took place in 2023.
Who won the maiden edition of SA20?
Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the maiden edition of SA20 in 2023.
What is SA20?
SA20 is a franchise T20 league of South Africa.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.