Exclusive: We offered a number of solutions to Cricket Australia, but nothing worked. The T20 league is important for SA, says Graeme Smith

One of the men right at the forefront of setting up this league is none other than one of South Africa and the world's greatest Test captains - Graeme Smith. The 41-year-old took some valuable time out to speak to TOI. Excerpts from an interview:So much is happening in the world of cricket right now, and much of it is centered around the new T20 leagues coming up. South Africa has made a terrific statement by getting six IPL franchises on board, finding a great window and signing up some really big names…Yes, and we're very excited. We've been working tirelessly behind the scenes for a while now in setting this up. And now we're public with six very strong team owners who've invested in the league and South African cricket. It's not just the credibility that these team owners bring to the league that's important, but sustainability is hugely important too for a league of this kind. The partners who've come on board are key to that. All of this has been very exciting for us and now it's about delivering on the league itself. The pressure points for setting that all up and getting ready for January, as you can imagine, is quite extensive. We'll be working with everybody to have it ready in time. What do we expect? For the cricket to be competitive. If that happens, the fans are going to love it and it'll be massive.

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A total of 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) trophies, three Champions League T20 trophies, followers in excess of 50 million on social media platforms across Twitter and Instagram, mass following across the world's largest cricket fanbase that's India, a healthy global diaspora to look at and

South Africa is also uniquely