Cricket South Africa says no to BCCI’s request for SA players to play IPL playoffs

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has informed its World Test Championship final-bound players featuring in the Indian Premier League to return home after the league stage ends on May 27. The Indian Express understands that despite the BCCI stepping in and holding informal talks, there is no change in CSA’s stance as it intends to give adequate preparation time for players ahead of the WTC showdown against Australia starting on June 11 at Lord’s. Hence, eight South Africans, should their team make it past the league stage, will miss the playoffs.

Ever since the revised schedule came out, there has been uncertainty around the availability of key overseas players due to international commitments. While England and West Indies players are scheduled to play an ODI series, South Africa are lined up to play the WTC final from June 11. However, they are scheduled to play a warm-up fixture against Zimbabwe and having already committed to it, the Proteas will land in England as early as May 31. The BCCI has been in talks with CSA over any possibility of extending the NOCs, but given the importance of the final, it didn’t pan out.

It is learnt that the 8 South African players have been told to inform their respective franchises about their non-availability beyond league stage. A couple of franchises that this newspaper spoke to admitted that barring any last minute negotiations, they are preparing for the playoffs without them. With IPL franchises owning all six teams in SA20, there was still some optimism that an agreement could be reached, but those look far-fetched as of now.

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It is understood that soon after the revised schedule was out, and CSA naming their WTC final-bound squad, franchises realised that the chance of these players staying put for the playoffs was realistically impossible. That their coach Shukri Conard revealed that the deadline wasn’t going to be extended was a clear indication of CSA’s stance. Having made the final of the WTC for the first time, South Africa are looking to end their ICC title hoodoo in London against the defending champions.

Given status quo, Mumbai Indians will have to do without their opener Ryan Rickelton and Corbin Bosch. The left-handed opener has been one of their finds of the season and is their second-highest run-getter with 336 runs in 12 innings. Similarly, Gujarat Titans won’t be able to use the services of Kagiso Rabada, who went home to serve one-month suspension for recreational drug use, for the playoffs. GT apart from losing Rabada, will also not have the services of their batting talisman England’s Jos Buttler but received a boost with Sherfane Rutherford set to play through till the end.

Among other teams in playoffs contention, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals will also stand to suffer if their campaign runs into the first week of June. While DC are set to lose Tristan Stubbs, RCB – who are already sweating over the availability of Josh Hazlewood – will not have Lungi Ngidi. Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis’ status is unknown for PBKS, but their big concern would be Marco Jansen heading back in case they make their first play-off appearance since 2014.

Apart from them, Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder will also leave India on May 27. While Markram is part of LSG, which has only a slim chance of qualifying for the knockouts, Mulder’s SRH are already out of the tournament.

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Buttler to head back too

Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans Playing 11: Rajasthan Royals will take on Gujarat Titans Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans Playing 11: Rajasthan Royals will take on Gujarat Titans

Buttler is set to leave for UK post the league stages as England have a white-ball series lined-up against West Indies on May 29. GT have named Kusal Mendis as Buttler’s replacement post league phase. According to ESPNCricinfo, Mendis, who was part of the Pakistan Super League till last week, has decided against travelling to Pakistan due to perceived security reasons and instead will head to Ahmedabad. The wicketkeeper batsman hasn’t featured in the IPL before and this would be his maiden affiliation with any franchise.

Confusion over Fizz

On Wednesday, DC announced Mustafizur Rahman as a replacement for their opener Jake Fraser-McGurk who has chosen not to travel back to the IPL after the events that unfolded in Dharamsala. However, reports emerging from Dhaka revealed that Mustafizur hasn’t been issued NOC by the Bangladesh Cricket Board as the seamer travelled with rest of his national teammates to the UAE for a T20I series. Bangladesh are lined-up to play two T20Is against UAE on May 17 and 19 before they travel to Pakistan to feature in matches starting on May 25 and ending on June 3. With Mustafizur’s international commitments overlapping with the IPL schedule, unless BCB issues NOC, then Delhi have to look for another replacement.

This chaos is largely down to the revised schedule that the BCCI came up with after the IPL was suspended for a week because of the tensions across the border between India and Pakistan. With the international calendar already locked, franchises are miffed over the revised schedule which runs into the first week of June. When the BCCI was planning to resume the IPL, franchises were under the belief that there would be more double-headers to make up for the last time. It would have also meant that the play-offs and the final could be completed by May. But the BCCI opted for just two double-headers and chose to extend the IPL to the first week of June leading to these complications.

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