Graeme Smith wants SA20 to be world's second-best T20 league

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith hopes the new SA20 competition will become "the second-best Twenty20 league" in the world.

The 41-year-old is the new commissioner of a tournament which will have six franchise teams and get under way on 23 January next year.

The new sides have all been bought by owners of clubs in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is the world's dominant domestic T20 league.

"I think It's very difficult to knock the IPL off their perch, but our goal is to be right behind them," Smith told the BBC World Service's Stumped podcast.

"The IPL has extracted serious value and done wonders for Indian cricket.

"South African cricket really needed to build a product that it owned and could develop itself. We've seen all the other nations do that successfully.

"I think we finally got the model right. This opportunity here is to really lift and elevate the standard of the game."

England internationals Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone have already been signed for the SA20, along with West Indians Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan.

A player auction to finalise the squads will be held on 19 September.

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

Photo: BCCI