After two failed efforts, MSL – Reimagined, South Africa’s third attempt to launch a Twenty20 league, is about to take the first significant step toward the organization. Deloitte & Touche, an international audit company, has been hired by Cricket South Africa (CSA) to conduct the evaluation after the organization issued a request for bids to all interested parties. The original deadline was set for Monday (July 11), but at the participants’ request, it was extended by two days (to July 13). At the end of the month, the squads will be revealed, a senior CSA official informed Cricbuzz.

The CSA has received 29 expressions of interest (EoI), including a few other IPL and Pakistan Super League (PSL) owners, following early EoI from Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises like Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals and a Kevin Pietersen-led consortium. The US-based private equity company CVC Capitals, which owns the defending IPL champion Gujarat Titans, is reportedly one of the prominent names attracting attention.

Some former GL T20 2017 investors are also competing, including the Dubai-based Channel 2 Group Corporation, whose Port Elizabeth team was dubbed the Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, and the PSL’s Sameen Rana-owned Lahore Qalandars. The GL T20 2017 was abandoned for several reasons, “including a lack of a broadcast partner.”

The CSA will have six franchises, with two of them perhaps being reserved for the local South African investors, according to rumors among prospective IPL clubs in India, even though this has not been officially confirmed. Even if the decision means that the window would conflict with another new league, the IPL T20 of the Emirates Cricket Board, the CSA still plans to host the league in January and February (ECB).

The fight between the UAE and South Africa leagues and the angst between the two boards’ representatives to be the second-best league after the IPL is the main topic of conversation in the world of cricket right now.

“The best league (IPL) and the second-best league differ from one another. Therefore, the CSA should concentrate on the chance to establish the second-best T20 league in the world “a CSA league paper states.

The league, which currently has three main promoters (CSA 57.5 percent, SuperSport 30 percent, and Sundar Raman 12.5 percent), plans to grow in the future and adopt the IPL format of six teams playing home and away (30 league games and four playoff matches), allowing for the participation of over 40 foreign players and 100 players from the local community. Up to five foreign players are allowed in the starting XI, while each team’s salary ceiling is set at $1.5 million.