Dinesh Karthik lauds South Africa’s domestic cricket, opens up on upcoming SA20 2025 season (Photo Source – Twitter / X)
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik will play for Paarl Royals in the third edition of the SA20. He also became the first Indian cricketer to feature in the South African league. Moreover, the keeper-batter is also one of the tournament’s brand ambassadors. Speaking on the same, Karthik stated that he has followed the tournament in the last couple of editions and noted that he is very fond of the place, given that he was part of the India squad that won the T20 World Cup 2007 in South Africa.
The current RCB batting coach also talked about South Africa’s strong domestic cricket culture that helped SA20 grow and become one of the most successful franchise-based tournaments in the world. He expects the tournament to grow further in the coming future and mentioned there are quality players in the tournament who can take the it to newer heights in the future.
“So I’ve watched both the editions very closely because a lot of the players that I’ve played with in IPL teams have played in that tournament. That’s one. And South Africa has been a very fond place for me because of the memories I’ve had. When SA20 came up and you watch other tournaments, the one thing that’s very evident is teams which have a strong domestic cricket culture come through with these franchise tournaments very well,” Karthik said at the SA20 India Day.
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“The fact that South Africa has had a very good domestic structure over a period of time, I think you could almost say they were frontrunners to be a very good tournament. The teams that assemble there, the six franchises that represent the domestic structure there, have been very good in terms of the assortment of players they’ve got. They’ve almost got the top players across batters, bowlers, in the ICC rankings as we speak. So it was a very well-fought tournament,” Karthik added.
Karthik would have joined SA20 league irrespective of team offerings
Besides, the prolific former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik also revealed that he is delighted to join Paarl Royals for the third season of the premier South African T20 franchise competition. However, he added that if any other team would have offered, the 39-year-old would have been tempted as well.