"It is always a fluid situation…"- Graeme Smith explains reason behind absence of Indian players from SA20 2026 auction list

Graeme Smith revealed that 13-14 Indian players submitted their names for SA20 2026 auction.

Former South Africa captain and SA20 League commissioner Graeme Smith has explained why no Indian player was shortlisted for SA20 2026 auction. Notably, 13 Indian players had submitted their names for the auction.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Siddharth Kaul, and Ankit Rajpoot are among a few Indian players who had submitted their names for the auction. However, no Indian player was shortlisted in the final list. Last year, Dinesh Karthik became the first Indian player to play in the tournament.

The SA20 2026 auction will take place on September 9 in Johannesburg. The auction will witness bidding for 25 overseas slots and 59 slots for South African players. A total of 241 overseas players and 308 South African players will go under the hammer.

Indian players is always a fluid situation: Graeme Smith

During a virtual interaction with Indian media outlets, Smith explained why no Indian player was shortlisted in SA20 2026 auction. Smith said that the availability of Indian players is always unpredictable and uncertain.

“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,” he said.

“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,” he added.

Meanwhile, SA20 2026 will begin on December 26 and witness the final on January 25, 2026. The tournament usually takes place during the January-February window. However, it will be played early this time to avoid a clash with ICC T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be played in February-March 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

MI Cape Town, Durban Super Giants, Pretoria Capitals, Joburg Super Kings, Paarl Royals, and Sunrisers Eastern Cape will battle for the title in SA20 2026. MI Cape Town are the defending champions of the tournament.

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