Franchise cricket limits how many overseas players may appear in a match. That single restriction shapes recruitment, team balance and the value of individual skills.
The cap creates competition within a squad
Squads may contain more overseas players than the playing eleven allows, so several are competing for a small number of places every match.
A signing is therefore not evaluated in isolation but against the other foreign players already contracted, which is a much harder standard to meet.
This is why a player with an excellent record can be bought and then rarely selected, without either the purchase or the omission being an error.
Versatility is worth more than it appears
Because the places are scarce, an overseas player who fills two roles occupies one slot while contributing what two specialists would.
An overseas all-rounder or a wicketkeeper who bats at the top is consequently valued far above a comparable specialist, and the auction prices reflect it.
Specialists still get selected, but they must be clearly superior rather than merely good, because a slot spent on one role is a slot unavailable elsewhere.
Domestic depth determines the strategy
A franchise with strong local batting can spend its overseas places on bowling, and one without local pace has little choice about it.
Assessing the domestic pool therefore comes first, and the overseas recruitment follows from the gaps it leaves.
Teams that get this order wrong buy attractive foreign players and then discover they cannot field them alongside each other.
Availability is part of the value
International schedules overlap with franchise seasons, so an overseas player may miss part of the tournament for national duty.
A player available for the whole competition is worth more than a marginally better one available for half of it, particularly in the closing stages that decide qualification.
Franchises consequently track international calendars closely and sometimes prefer a player who has stepped away from one format for that reason alone.
Why the limit exists at all
Without a cap, franchises would field the strongest available eleven from anywhere, and the domestic players the league is meant to develop would be squeezed out.
The restriction guarantees that a majority of every team is local, which preserves the pathway from domestic cricket into the tournament.
It also produces the league's most valuable side effect: young domestic players sharing a dressing room with established internationals, which is a form of coaching no academy can replicate.