Taijul Islam Misses SA20 Debut as Durban Super Giants Bring in Kane Williamson

Bangladesh spinner Taijul Islam will not feature in this year’s SA20 franchise league in South Africa, with Durban’s Super Giants confirming former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson as his replacement. Taijul had made history in September as the first Bangladeshi cricketer to be signed by an SA20 franchise, picked up by Durban’s Super Giants for 500,000 South African rand (about Tk 35 lakh) during the players’ auction. However, ESPNcricinfo reported on Thursday that the franchise has replaced him with Williamson, though the reasons behind Taijul’s withdrawal were not specified. The left-arm spinner is currently occupied with Bangladesh’s Test series against Ireland and is expected to remain part of the national setup through December. The SA20 season is set to begin in the final week of December, overlapping with Bangladesh’s domestic commitments, including the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which starts a week earlier. Taijul represented Fortune Barishal in the previous BPL season, but the franchise will not feature in this edition. The player draft for the 12th BPL season, which will include five teams, is scheduled for November 17. Williamson, who retired from international T20 cricket last week, returns to Durban’s Super Giants after topping their run charts in the previous SA20 campaign with 233 runs. Despite his strong showing, the franchise had released him before the 2025–26 auction. The 35-year-old batter recently joined the Lucknow Super Giants — the IPL team under the same ownership — as a strategic advisor. Williamson’s signing strengthens Durban’s top order as the franchise looks to improve on last season’s sixth-place finish. Taijul’s absence, meanwhile, ends what could have been a landmark debut for Bangladeshi representation in South Africa’s top-tier T20 league — a reminder of how overlapping international and domestic schedules continue to challenge players from emerging cricket nations.