Five players from SA20 who can help their franchises in IPL 2023

SA20 League: Top Five players from SA20 who can help their franchises in IPL 2023. Will Jacks, Heinrich Klaasen, Phil Salt, Marco Jansen and Aiden Markram make it to the list.

Jacks scored 270 runs in the league at a SR of 201.49 (Images: ©Wjacks9/Twitter)

The inaugural T20 franchise tournament of South Africa or SA20 is currently underway. There are players from England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, New Zealand and of course, South Africa taking part in SA20. Some of these players are set to play for their respective franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

Let’s talk about five players taking part in SA20 who can help their franchises in IPL 2023.

Will Jacks (Pretoria Capitals, RCB)

Player	Matches	Runs	Ave	50s	SR	Wickets
Will Jacks	7	270	38.57	3	201.49	3

*Stats till February 10, 2023

Playing for Pretoria Capitals, Will Jacks is the sixth-highest-run getter in SA20 2022-23 so far, with 270 runs at an average of 38.57 and a brilliant strike rate of 201.49.

Jacks has struck 3 fifties so far, and each of his half-centuries have come at a strike rate of over 200. He has struck a 46-ball 92, a 25-ball 56 and a 27-ball 62. He is known for his big hitting and is definitely keeping his new IPL team RCB interested in his performances. He was bought for INR 3.2 crore.

With Glenn Maxwell likely to miss games in IPL 2023 or possibly the full tournament due to an injury, Jacks could be the perfect replacement for the former. Jacks may be asked to open with Faf du Plessis with Virat Kohli to follow to anchor the innings. But the team management is more likely to give him the number 4 slot of Maxwell.

Read More: Punjab Kings’ mega buy Sam Curran struggling big time in SA20

Heinrich Klaasen (Durban’s Super Giants, SRH)

Player	Matches	Runs	Ave	50s/100s	SR	Cat/St
Heinrich Klaasen	10	363	60.5	3/1	164.25	2/1

*Stats till February 10, 2023

Heinrich Klaasen is known for his big-hitting, and he has been doing exactly that in SA20 2022-23. He is the third-highest run-getter in the tournament behind Jos Buttler and Faf du Plessis. Klaasen cracked a 44-ball 104* against Pretoria Capitals and a 19-ball 50* against Paarl Royals to enhance his reputation as a big hitter of the ball.

Klaasen faces competition for a place in the SRH XI from Glenn Phillips of New Zealand who is a keeper-batter of a similar style. Phillips has a better record as a batter in T20s than Klaasen, with 5 tons to the credit of the former, compared to 1 of the latter. But Phillips’ poor returns in India recently, 76 runs in 6 limited overs innings, could work against him. Klaasen can also play as a floater, opening or batting in the middle order depending on the team’s requirements.

It may be recalled that SRH released inconsistent Nicholas Pooran, and also freed up money ahead of the IPL 2023 auction, and bought a replacement in Klaasen for INR 5.25 crore. SRH are banking on Klaasen to do the job that Pooran was unable to do for them.

Read More: Viacom18 enters strategic partnership with CSA; gets SA20 League media rights for Indian market

Phil Salt (Pretoria Capitals & Delhi Capitals)

Player	Matches	Runs	Ave	50s	SR	Cat/St
Phil Salt	9	230	32.85	2	154.36	7/0

*Stats till February 10, 2023

Phil Salt may not have big numbers to show for in the ongoing SA20 tournament, but he has played a couple of impact innings as opener. He has two fifty-plus knocks (77* and 52*) at a strike rate of over 160 as the opener. And that will please his IPL squad Delhi Capitals who bought him for INR 2 crore.

With Rishabh Pant to miss IPL 2023 as he is recovering from a car accident, Salt becomes crucial to Delhi’s campaign in IPL 2023. He is the lone specialist keeper in the squad now and is most likely to take up Pant’s spot in the XI. Hence, DC will bank heavily on Salt to come good, although replacing Pant will not be easy. He might open the innings if first-choice opener David Warner fails to fire in the tournament.

Read More: SA20 Auction: Tristan Stubbs pockets highest bid, Temba Bavuma goes unsold in first edition

Jansen took 7 wickets and scored 164 runs from 11 games (Images: ©ProteasMenCSA/Twitter)

Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Eastern Cape & Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Player	Matches	Runs	Bat SR	Wkts	Eco
Marco Jansen	11	164	153.27	7	7.90

*Stats updated till February 10, 2023

Marco Jansen, the South African bowling all-rounder, has just 7 wickets to show for in 11 games for Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC). But he has a few brilliant batting cameos to show under his name. He struck a 27-ball 66 with 3 fours and 7 sixes against MI Cape Town.

Jansen’s IPL team, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) rates him highly as they retained him for IPL 2023. He took 9 wickets in 10 games for SRH in IPL 2022 after he was bought for INR 4.2 crore in the 2022 IPL auction. His left-arm pace bowling is the biggest asset as Indian players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and others have an apparent weakness to the ball coming into them from a left-arm pacer over the wicket.

He is likely to pair up with Bhuvneshwar Kumar to give early breakthroughs to the team, and also keep the batters quiet in the death overs. However, he will have to beat competition from India pacer Thangarasu Natarajan for a place in the XI as SRH are likely to go with just one-left arm pacer in the XI, with Umran Akmal being the third pacer in the XI. But Jansen’s recent exploits with the bat will make him keep his place in the SRH XI as an all-rounder who can do real damage with the bat lower down the order.

Read More: IPL 2023 Mini-Auction: Curran, Green, Stokes, Pooran top bids; GT, LSG, SRH look settled on paper

Markram scored 340 runs from 11 games in SA20 (Images: ©ProteasMenCSA_Twitter)

Aiden Markram (Sunrisers Eastern Cape, SRH)

Player	Matches	Runs	Ave	50s/100s	SR	Wkt
Aiden Markram	11	340	34	1/1	127.34	10

*Stats till February 10, 2023

Aiden Markram has done a fairly decent job as an all-rounder and captain of Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20 2022-23. He has scored 340 runs at an average of 34 and taken 10 wickets to be in the top echelons of the highest run-getters and wicket-takers lists. He has batted in the middle order to strengthen the batting of his team in SA20.

But come IPL 2023, Markram could not only open the innings for SRH with Mayank Agarwal but also captain the side. And also, he can bowl a few overs of off-spin as and when the team needs him. Hence, Markram could be the trump card for SRH in the upcoming IPL season.

The final of SA20 2022-23 will be played on February 11 between Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape at The Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Read More: IPL 2023-27: Star retains TV rights for INR 23,575 cr, Viacom18 grabs digital for INR 23,758 cr