Johannesburg [South Africa], August 13 (ANI): With the SA20 auction fast approaching, former South African all-rounder Chris Morris believes Aiden Markram will be one of the headline attractions when the bidding war begins on September 9 in Johannesburg.

'Sunrisers haven't retained him, but they do have a right-to-match card, meaning they can match the final bid for him and retain his services,' Morris explained, as quoted from SA20.

'That opens the door for mind games -- other teams could bid aggressively to push his price high enough to make it difficult for the Sunrisers to bring him back,' he noted.

Morris identified two franchises that could make a strong play for the Proteas batter.

'Two teams stand out to me: MI Cape Town, which would solve their captaincy question -- not that Rashid Khan is doing a bad job -- but having a successful local international captain at number four would be a big boost, especially since they've released Rassie van der Dussen, leaving a vacancy at number three. The other is Pretoria Capitals, who have one of the largest remaining purses. He's a local player, would fill their captaincy role, slot in at number three, and bring strong leadership after Rilee Rossouw's stint last year. Either way, Aiden Markram is going to be hot property,' he added.

The SA20 has grown rapidly since its launch, and last year's auction saw almost 600 players register from across the globe. This year's list of retained and pre-signed stars already boasts big names such as Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and England's Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.

Each of the teams was permitted a maximum of 6 retained or pre-signed players, comprising a maximum of three South African and three overseas players during the player retention window, which closed on 18 July, as per an SA20 press release.

The teams also strategically completed their six wildcard signings, with all the focus now on the remaining slots and the collective maximum purse of USD 7.4 million, to be spent on the 84 available slots at the auction on 9 September in Johannesburg. For Season 4, a Wildcard player could be any overseas player or a South African player who was part of the team's squad in Season 3.

The new season kicks off on December 26, with the auction in early September expected to set the tone for another blockbuster edition of South Africa's premier T20 league. (ANI)