New Delhi: South Africa expect players to make themselves available for national duty by May 26 despite extension of the 2025 Indian Premier League till June following military tensions between Indian and Pakistan.
The IPL was scheduled to end on May 25 but was temporarily suspended after military tensions rose between the two countries in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
With both countries announcing ceasefire, the premier T20 domestic competition has now been extended by nine days and will resume on May 17 with its final being held on June 3.
South Africa will take on Australia in the World Test Championship final from June 11 and IPL 2025’s fixture rescheduling has raised concerns among teams that will prepare for international assignments.
“The initial agreement with the IPL and BCCI was that players would return on May 26, following the final originally scheduled for the 25th. Nothing has changed from our perspective; that is the ongoing conversation. As it stands, we want our players back on the 26th,” SA head coach Shukri Conrad said on Tuesday.
South Africa have announced their squad for the WTC final and expects all selected players to report in England by May 31. Players not in IPL will travel from South Africa on May 30, while those playing in India are supposed to move to England before.
A total of eight players – Corbin Bosch and Ryan Rickelton (Mumbai Indians), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), and Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – who are in the WTC final squads are currently active in the IPL, woth seven of them still in contention for the play-offs.
These players were given no objection certificates (NOCs) to play in the IPL until May 25 and now need fresh approvals to play in the IPL till June 3.
As only eight days separate the IPL final and the WTC title clash, South Africa are worried about workload management to avoid fatigue and are unlikely to grant fresh NOCs.
“There’s no bigger honour than playing in a Test final. While we understand the value of franchise cricket, national duty must come first-especially in a tournament of this stature,” a Cricket South Africa official was quoted as saying by indiatoday.in.