The auction for the SA 20 League is finally underway as the cricketing world is gearing towards its newest T20 tournament. The contest will see six teams: MI Cape Town, Durban Super Giants, Johannesburg Super Kings, Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape lock horns across South Africa in early 2023.
Surprisingly all six franchises are owned by the six different IPL franchise ownership groups. Hence, this raises a massive question of why Indian players aren’t participating in this SA T20 League or any other foreign league. The BCCI has always held a singular stand on this issue which doesn’t allow any Indian player contracted by the board to participate in foreign leagues.
There is no doubt that every Indian player brings with him a certain amount of brand value in every league or tournament he goes on to play. Whereas the Indian players from the men’s team are permitted to play county cricket and List A matches, they aren't allowed to play T20 cricket as they would be promoting a foreign league.
The first-class and List A cricket in India itself doesn't have a lot of following but the domestic T20 matches still draw crowds to the stadium. Whereas the inclusion of an Indian international player in any T20 league will bump up its value and could take away exclusivity from IPL which isn't allowed by the Board.
So the Indian cricket players are exclusively signed with the IPL for avoiding any such situation, hence there's no chance of any Indian player taking part in any foreign league in near future. Hence, a player can only get a chance to compete in any foreign league after he retires from international cricket, IPL and domestic cricket. But the women cricketers are allowed to take part in foreign leagues as women's domestic cricket is still developing in India.