SA20 2023: Captains allowed to select playing XIs after toss

In a big change to T20 cricket, SA20 announced that the captains can name their playing XIs after the toss. South Africa’s new T20 franchise league, SA20 2023, will kickstart from January 10 with MI Cape Town clashing against Paarl Royals in Cape Town. Ahead of the start, the league announced some big changes to the playing conditions on January 9.

As per the same, the captains are allowed to nominate a 13-member squad before the toss and they can choose their final XI after the toss. The remaining two players will be on the bench as substitutes. The rule will help captains to change their teams accordingly and name the possible best XI even after losing the toss.

Special bonus point and no overthrow runs for intentional run-out attempts

In another interesting rule, the SA20 2023 tournament will have any overthrow runs if an ‘intentional’ run-out attempt results in the ball deflecting off the stumps. The tournament explains this change as an encouragement for the players for a ‘positive and attacking fielding’.

Meanwhile, in the group-stage round of the tournament, each team will be rewarded four points for a win, two points in case of no result, and zero points for a defeat. However, according to the newly announced playing conditions, teams can earn a bonus point if they win the match by a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition. The same is likely to trigger teams to play more competitive and attacking cricket in each and every game to earn a crucial one point that can make a big difference to qualify for the knockouts.

In addition to above changes, the SA20 also announced that there will be in-game penalties through fielding restrictions instead of a captain’s suspension in case of slow over-rates.