Dewald Brevis Becomes Most Expensive SA20 Player Ever, CSK Star Goes To Pretoria Capitals For Whopping...

Dewald Brevis is now the most expensive SA20 player ever. The SA20 Season 4 Player Auction is taking place in Johannesburg. The auction started with a total purse of US$7.37 million available to fill 84 open slots across six franchises. Each team has with a salary cap of US$2.31 million, making SA20 the world's second-richest T20 league after the IPL. Brevis, who was a replacement signing for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 and did very well, started a bidding war between Joburg Super Kings and Pretoria Capitals. Ultimately, Brevis was picked by the Capitals for Rand 16,500,000 (Rs 8.31 crore). This is the highest bid that a player has got in SA20 auction. Earlier, in the day Aiden Markram joined Durban Super Giants for a record of 14 million Rand - that was broken by Brevis.

Dewald Brevis is Officially Highest Paid Cricketer of SA20 … Super Kings Are Not Leaving Him … going all out i guess pic.twitter.com/3HPI9dpgV3

— Junaid Khan (@JunaidKhanation) September 9, 2025

 All six franchises have completed pre-signings, retentions, and Wildcard player selections ahead of the main auction. The SA20 Season 4 Player Auction will take place on 9 September 2025 in Johannesburg, with the league's fourth season starting on 26 December 2025.

This year saw a record 800+ player registrations, whittled down to a final auction pool of 541 players after franchise reviews-300 South Africans and 241 overseas players

Pretoria Capitals lead with the largest purse (US$1.86 million) and a refreshed coaching staff, headed by Sourav Ganguly and Shaun Pollock-ready to rebuild their squad for Season 4. Durban's Super Giants have US$1.66 million left; they retain a settled core with star players Jos Buttler, Sunil Narine, Heinrich Klaasen, and Noor Ahmad, guided by Lance Klusener and Allan Donald.

Joburg Super Kings enter with US$1.2 million and captain Faf du Plessis, supported by English and West Indian talent.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape, two-time champions and savvy auction strategists, have US$1.2 million with a squad headlined by Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Jonny Bairstow, Adam Milne, and Afghanistan's Allah Ghazanfar.

Paarl Royals plan to strengthen their young, playoff-tested squad with US$0.819 million to bid, prioritizing stars like Lhuan-dre Pretorius and David Miller.

MI Cape Town defend their crown with the smallest purse at US$0.65 million, focusing on a core of Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran, and Ryan Rickelton.

South Africa's top talent headlines the pool, including Proteas T20I captain Aiden Markram and seven members of the ICC T20 World Cup final squad: Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottneil Baartman, and Gerald Coetzee.

Test World Champions such as Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Tony de Zorzi, and Dane Paterson also feature prominently.

International legends like Shakib-al-Hasan (Bangladesh), James Anderson (England), Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Tom Abell (England), Adam Rossington, Jordan Cox, Daniel Worrall (England), D'Arcy Short (Australia), and Devon Conway (New Zealand) are part of the global roster.

Rules

All franchises must build 19-player squads, now including a minimum of two Under-23 South African players, a new regulation replacing the previous Rookie Draft.

Teams can sign a maximum of 7 overseas players and must have at least 9 local South Africans, with an additional Wildcard player for roster flexibility.

Notable changes and auction highlights

The introduction of Right to Match (RTM) cards adds strategic complexity, allowing teams to retain players from previous seasons by matching the highest bid.