Johannesburg [South Africa], May 15 : Eight South African players, who are included in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final squad, will be missing the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs and returning home by May 27.
As per ESPNCricinfo, these eight players are: Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Ryan Rickelton and Corbin Bosch (both Mumbai Indians). They will all be leaving for UK on May 30. Ahead of the final at Lord's scheduled for June 11, they will be playing a warm-up game against Zimbabwe from June 3 at Arundel.
Earlier, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that SA players were expected to stay until the tournament end, potentially impacting their preparation for the WTC final. The newspaper reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allegedly used its influence to ensure South African players' continued participation.
"One thing we have made clear, and we are finalizing it with the IPL and the BCCI, is that we are sticking to our original plan when it comes to WTC preparations with May 26 being the latest for the Test guys to come back," CSA's director of cricket Enoch Nkwe had said, as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.
However, in just few hours, CSA's director Enoch Nkwe changed his stance, saying higher-level talks were happening between CSA, the BCCI, and IPL franchises, suggesting CSA had little choice in the matter.
"Correction - the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd," he declared."The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final," he said.
The IPL is a much bigger money-maker than the WTC final, which has led to tough discussions about scheduling between cricket boards and IPL franchises. Cricket South Africa (CSA) initially insisted that their eight IPL players would leave by May 25 to prepare for the final.
But now, as per ESPNCricinfo, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has negotiated with the IPL for the early release of their players, considering the importance of their WTC final fixture against Australia.
All other South African players not playing the WTC final will be playing the IPL till the very end, till the final scheduled for June 3.
The IPL will resume from May 17 after a suspension just over a week back amidst rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The high-octane clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Bengaluru will mark the resumption, with pacer Lungi Ngidi expected to play in case Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood does not recover from his shoulder injury.
Out of the seven teams having WTC final-bound SA players, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is out of contention, and Gujarat Titans (GT) have played the majority of their season without Kagiso Rabada, who has just featured in two matches and is close to securing the playoffs spot.
MI will be heavily affected as their opener Ryan Rickelton is their second-highest run-getter with 336 runs in 12 innings, with three fifties while Corbin Bosch has been solid with bat and ball in his three games so far, having scored 47 runs in two innings and taken a wicket.
Marco Jansen's departure will affect Punjab Kings (PBKS) adversely as they will miss out on their third-highest wicket-taker (11 wickets in 11 games) and need two wins in their last three matches to seal a place in the final four.
For Delhi Capitals (DC), the departure of SA players means that their middle-order batter/finisher, Tristan Stubbs, misses out as well, having been a prolific performer with 259 runs in 10 innings with a strike rate of 151.46 and an average of 51.80. At fifth, they are in a tricky situation, needing wins from this point to have a chance at the final four finish.
For Lucknow Super Giants, Aiden Markram has been prolific at the top, scoring 348 runs in 11 innings at an average of 31.63 with four fifties. LSG is currently in seventh place and needs to win all their three remaining fixtures to have any chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
The league phase ends on May 27, with playoffs starting on May 29, with the final on June 3.