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Cricket Players‘Second-best league after IPL’: Robin Uthappa puts his faith in India’s patience, viewership to fuel SA20’s growth
Robin Uthappa firmly believes the best of SA20 is yet to come, and India will play a key role in making the league grow and expand.
A soft smile emerged on Robin Uthappa’s face as he was transported 19 years back to the 2007 T20 World Cup at the mere mention of Durban by a small group of Indian journalists assembled at Kingsmead on Wednesday. The venue, nestled in the heart of a city often dubbed ‘Mini India’ due to its sizable population of subcontinental origin, holds a special place in Indian cricketing history.
It was here that MS Dhoni and his men played four matches en route to their historic World Cup triumph in 2007, including the iconic bowl-out victory over Pakistan, the last drawn T20I at the venue, and Yuvraj Singh’s unforgettable six sixes. Uthappa was an integral part of that young side.
On Wednesday, however, the 40-year-old, who retired from professional cricket in 2022, returned to Kingsmead in a different role, behind the microphone. He is part of the commentary panel for the ongoing fourth season of the SA20, a tournament he confidently described as “the second-best league after the IPL.”
"I absolutely love this tournament. As far as the atmosphere and the quality of cricket are concerned, I reckon it's the second-best league after the IPL. I think you will see South African cricket thriving. I think with the way they are performing at global tournaments and the way they played in India recently, I think you'll see a lot of that talent coming through. The likes of Nqobani Mokoena, an 18-year-old pacer who plays for Paarl Royals; Jordan Hermann, who plays for Sunrisers. I think these are talents that even the IPL scouts will keep their eyes on because these are players for the future. You will see them playing in world cricket very soon," Uthappa said on the sidelines of SA20 game between Pretoria Capitals and Durban Super Giants.
'Give SA20 the time and space to mature'
Last month, South Africa toured India for a T20I series against one of the host nations of the 2026 T20 World Cup. While the series served as a key preparatory assignment for the ICC tournament, the national selection committee opted for sweeping changes to the squad. With the World Cup set to get underway in just over a month, the ongoing SA20 season is expected to play a vital role in getting players match-ready for the tournament, or at least, that is the belief among the players.
However, the SA20 has also sparked a wider debate within South African cricket over whether the league has reached a level where it can offer ideal preparation for a T20 World Cup. While World Cup-bound players such as Corbin Bosch and Keshav Maharaj view the league as a valuable stepping stone, convenor selector Patrick Moroney struck a more cautious note. Announcing the squad last Friday, Moroney said the SA20 is yet to reach a stage — akin to the IPL — where performances can be considered on par with the international level.
Uthappa largely agreed with the selector, but he was quick to add that such influence only comes with time, something even the IPL needed several seasons to establish.
“I think we’re looking at this from a silo. You have to take a holistic perspective, consider the ecosystem, the culture, and how cricket operates here. There are still hurdles for talent to be picked purely on performance because selection involves a lot more. You have to factor in those realities. I believe it will get there over time. The IPL, for example, became what it is maybe after its fourth or fifth season. Leagues need time and space to mature into their full potential. SA20 is going through those stages now, and over time, I think we’ll see some really high-quality cricket emerge,” he said in response to a query from Hindustan Times.
With league commissioner Graeme Smith having openly stated since the inception of the SA20 that the tournament aims to challenge for the second spot among the world’s most popular T20 leagues, comparisons with the IPL were inevitable from the very first season. The SA20 has not escaped those parallels since, whether from experts or fans.
Uthappa, however, pushed back against the notion that audiences no longer have the patience for newer leagues, maintaining that quality cricket will always find its viewers, irrespective of market saturation.
“Not really. Out of the 2.25 billion cricket viewers globally, there are many casual watchers, but there are also true fans and aficionados who want to watch high-quality cricket. I have immense faith that they will continue to follow the sport for the quality it offers. Cricket is evolving at an incredibly fast pace, and these true aficionados, who have seen the game grow, will stay engaged to keep up with it. When you consider that, you realise they have the patience—just like for leagues such as the Big Bash, which, despite being built in a silo, has survived and thrived for over 10 years,” he explained.
Uthappa also highlighted SA20’s strategic advantage, noting that the league aligns perfectly with India’s prime-time viewing window, a market that accounts for nearly 60–70 per cent of global cricket viewership. That, he believes, gives the tournament the runway it needs to grow and thrive in the long term.
"So I think a league like this, which is a lot more within the timelines or within the viewership timelines of India, which is about 60-70% of the viewership of India viewership of cricket around the globe or which has a lion's share of the viewership around the globe. You will see that this league will thrive over a period of time and viewers have the patience and the wherewithal to see a league like this thrive."
Expanding on why the tournament connects with Indian audiences, the former Indian cricketer said SA20’s appeal goes beyond scheduling and rests firmly on the quality and intensity of cricket on display.
“Well, I think it’s the quality of cricket that matters. People want to watch high-quality cricket anywhere in the world, and I think this falls right into that sweet spot. You can start watching a game while having dinner, and if it’s interesting, you end up watching it till you go to sleep, around midnight. So it fits perfectly for Indian viewers. I believe it will do well, and the intensity will only continue to improve. The global cricket audience is about 2.25 billion, and they have the capacity to follow four or five high-quality tournaments. I think this league will be one of them, right after the IPL.”
Whether it was memories of the 2007 T20 World Cup, the feeling of playing in front of a ‘home crowd’ in Durban, or the high-quality cricket he has repeatedly praised in the SA20, Uthappa admitted he would be open to setting the microphone aside and strapping on the pads and gloves once more — potentially becoming the next Indian after Dinesh Karthik to feature in the league. For the uninitiated, Uthappa had put his name in the 2023 auction, but went unsold.
"If people watch this sport and people come here, I can tell you that this is a place that any cricket lover, anyone who loves this sport, anyone who wants to play this sport at a competitive level will love playing. I can see the likes of an Ashwin wanting to be a part of this. I can see the likes of maybe just recently retired players wanting to be a part of this. If the skills are up to it, if they're physically up to it, if people have me now, I'm ready to shed this off and wear pads and gloves and go and bathe them. And so, because this is such an exciting tournament, you want to be a part of a tournament like this. You want to. If the fire still burns to win championships, then yeah, this is a place to be."
