South Africa take another U-turn, negotiate with IPL over WTC final-bound stars; MI, DC, PBKS face blow to playoff hopes
As many as eight IPL-bound players have been picked in the South Africa Test squad for the WTC final against Australia
Cricket South Africa (CSA), on Thursday, took another U-turn on their decision to send the World Test Championship (WTC) final-bound players to India for the last leg of the IPL 2025, which will resume on May 17. As many as eight IPL-bound players have been picked in the South Africa Test squad for the WTC final against Australia, which will begin on June 11 at the Lord's.
After CSA announced the squad for the final, a day after BCCI made it official to resume the IPL 2025 season, the board reportedly indicated that they need those eight players back by May 26 in preparation for the match in London. Later, CSA's director of national teams Enoch Nkwe, confirmed the same in a presser.
However, a few hours later, he issued a small correction on the deadline date, saying it had been pushed back by a week. "Correction – the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd," said Nkwe. “The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final.”
In a second U-turn, South Africa now need their players back home by May 27, according to a report in the ESPNCricinfo. "Cricket South Africa (CSA) has concluded negotiations with the IPL about the early release of these players, given the importance of the WTC final, which will be played on June 11 at Lord's against Australia," the report said.
WTC final-found SA player to miss playoffs
The eight IPL-bound South African players included in the WTC squad - 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) - will join the rest of the squad at home on May 27 and leave for London three days later, where they will play a warm-up game against Zimbabwe from June 3 at Arundel in preparation for the match against Australia.
Gujarat have played the majority of the season without Rabada and hence are unlikely to worry over his absence, as they now stand just a win away from making the playoffs. However, Mumbai will be concerned with the side set to miss two of their players. Rickelton has been their second-highest run-getter, while Bosch has played handy cameos in the three games he played.
Punjab will also be worried with Jansen being their third-best bowler this season with 11 wickets in as many matches, while Stubbs has been impressive as a finisher for Delhi Capitals. Both these teams are well in the race to make the playoffs with three games remaining for each.
LSG, currently placed seventh on the points table, do have their chances diminished compared to the aforementioned four, but they will miss the services of Markram, who scored 348 runs in 11 innings for them, especially with the team needing to win all their remaining games to qualify.
