Joburg Super Kings enter the 2027 auction without the only captain the franchise has ever known. Faf du Plessis was released on August 5, alongside Wiaan Mulder, Nandre Burger, Daniel Worrall and Imran Tahir, ending a four-season stretch in which he led every single JSK campaign since the league’s launch. Jason Holder arrives as the headline replacement, but Joburg has no confirmed captain and six vacant slots to fill before October’s auction closes the roster. It closes a chapter that began with the franchise’s first match at the Wanderers.
JSK’s Full List of Players Released
Five players left the Wanderers roster in one announcement on Wednesday. Du Plessis heads the list, alongside Wiaan Mulder and Nandre Burger, who both re-enter the auction pool, plus Daniel Worrall, Imran Tahir, Richard Gleeson, Brandon King, Rivaldo Moonsamy and Michael Pepper.
He captained the Wanderers-based side across all four editions of the tournament, from its 2023 launch through the 2026 season. No other franchise has swapped captains as rarely as Joburg has over that stretch, and no other name on this list carries the same symbolic weight.
Mulder and Burger returning to the pool matters just as much for squad-building. Both were regulars in the JSK XI, and their exit leaves Joburg needing depth in exactly the positions it just lost.
SA20 2026 Faf du Plessis release news
The timing lands a day after all six franchises confirmed retained and pre-signed players. Du Plessis was the tournament’s leading run-scorer in its debut season, striking 369 runs including a century and two fifties in 2023, then followed with 239 in year two and 286 in year three.
A torn right thumb ligament ended his 2026 campaign early. He managed 135 runs across five innings at a strike rate above 151 before January surgery ruled him out, closing a JSK career worth roughly 1,025 runs in 40 games.
| Franchise | Marquee Signing | Notable Player(s) Released |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrisers Eastern Cape | Mitchell Marsh | Jonny Bairstow, Chris Wood |
| Joburg Super Kings | Jason Holder | Faf du Plessis, Wiaan Mulder, Nandre Burger |
| Paarl Royals | Joe Root | Rovman Powell, Lasith Malinga |
| Durban’s Super Giants | Sam Curran | Noor Ahmad, David Wiese |
| Pretoria Capitals | Phil Salt, Matthew Short | Shai Hope, Will Smeed |
| MI Cape Town | Will Jacks | Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult |
At 42, the numbers suggest a player entering the twilight of his SA20 involvement, but releasing him alongside four teammates rather than as a standalone move points to a genuine roster reset.
Four Seasons of Captaincy at the Wanderers
Every SA20 season has opened with the same batter walking out to toss for Joburg. That run ends here. Building an identity around one figure for four straight years is rare in a league this young, and it leaves a gap no single signing fully closes.
Holder joins as the marquee arrival, bringing a Major League Cricket-winning captaincy record and genuine all-round output. He slots in alongside Akeal Hosein, James Vince, Donovan Ferreira and Dian Forrester, none of whom have captained a franchise side at this level, which is why his résumé stands out among them.
The Search For A New Captain
Joburg is, in plain terms, hunting for its second captain in franchise history. Holder is the leading contender given his leadership pedigree, though nothing has been confirmed publicly, and six auction slots remain open on October 7 before the squad is finalised. That short timeline gives the new captaincy pairing barely three months to build genuine chemistry before the season opener in January.
Those six spots are the largest gap of any franchise still shopping at the auction, matched only by MI Cape Town, while Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape have five and two vacancies respectively.
Whoever takes the armband inherits a group light on senior batting depth after this week’s departures, and the pressure to replace du Plessis’s runs will matter just as much as replacing his leadership when the SA20 2026 Faf du Plessis release news settles into a fully rebuilt Joburg roster before January.