Lagatar24 Desk
Johannesburg, Dec 20: Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed on Monday that the third edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL)scheduled for February 2022 has been called off due to the difficult environment caused by Covid-19.
This year’s third edition of the MSL, which was scheduled for February, was postponed once again, with the domestic CSA T20 Challenge set to replace the global T20 tournament.
The Mzansi Super League (MSL) scheduled for February 2022 has been called off due to the current Covid-19 environment.
The premier global T20 tournament will be replaced by a domestic CSA T20 Challenge in February 2022.
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“The decision to cancel the 2021 edition of the MSL is meant to allow CSA and its strategic partners to revamp and review the tournament post-Covid-19 to regain its market and commercial position,” said Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting chief executive officer.
“For its purpose, the MSL slot will again be replaced by a domestic CSA T20 challenge, featuring the eight Division 1 teams and this tournament will take place in February 2022,” he added.
The decision has been taken owing to the COVID-19 environment which has made it difficult to maintain the brand proposition of being the premium international T20 tournament, sue to increased travel restrictions as imposed by many nations on South Africa since the discovery of Omicron variant.
“However, restrictions such as stricter travel possibilities, the Bio-Secure Environment frustrations, fear of the new variant, and the weak Rand/US Dollar exchange rate are some of the main reasons why CSA has taken the decision to call off the 2022 version of the MSL,” read an statement.
Notably, MSL was conceptualized as the premium global T20 competition to rival the likes of Indian Premier League (IPL), Pakistan Super League (PSL), Big Bash League (BBL), to name a few. Earlier, CSA also postponed the year’s remaining round of the CSA 4-Day Domestic Series across Divisions One and Two due to the COVID-19.