South Africa, England to BLOCK players' participation in IPL 2025 playoffs

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has come up with a massive headache for the IPL franchises. The governing body wants their players to be back in the country by 26th May to prepare for the final of the ICC World Test Championship against Australia.

Since the past few days, there has been a lot going on in the cricketing World. One of the major developments that took place was the suspension of the IPL 2025 due to the tensions between India and Pakistan. However, now, with both nations calling a ceasefire, the league is all set to resume.

IPL 2025 will resume on 17th May

The IPL 2025 will resume on 17th May as the BCCI recently announced the revised schedule of the tournament. As per that, the final of the league will be taking place on 3rd June, nine days later than the originally scheduled final, which was due to take place on 25th May.

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The change in the schedule of the league will no doubt hamper the franchise as the international season will begin on 25th May, and it might see foreign players missing the playoffs. But, there is surety for South African players in this case as they need to be back by 26th May.

South Africa National Cricket Team is all set to take on Australia National Cricket Team in the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. The match will be played at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London from 11th June, and the CSA wants their players to be fully fit.

We want our players back on the 26th - South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad

South Africa National Cricket Team head coach Shukri Conrad openly mentioned that their agreement with BCCI says that their players need to be back by 26th May. Speaking about the same, he said:

"The initial agreement with the IPL and the BCCI was with the final being on the (May) 25th, our players would return on the 26th so that it allows them ample time before we fly out on the 30th. Nothing has changed from our perspective.

"That is the ongoing conversations that are being had between people in a higher pay grade than I am, i.e. the Director of Cricket (Enoch Nkwe) and Pholetsi Moseki (CSA CEO), so they're dealing with that. But as it stands, we're not budging on that, I don't think. We want our players back on the 26th, and hopefully that comes to fruition."

A total of 20 South African players are part of the IPL 2025, and out of them, 8 have been included in the team for the ICC World Test Championship final 2023-25. These are:

Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians), Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad) Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Aiden Markram (Lucknow SuperGiants), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Ryan Rickelton (Mumbai Indians) and Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals)

As per the reports in Cricbuzz, the South African players have been asked to assemble in Arundel (a town in England) on 31 May. The Proteas are set to play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe from June 3-6 before heading to London on June 7 for the WTC final.

England players are likely to miss the playoffs of the IPL 2025 due to international commitments

Not only the South African players but also the England players are likely to miss the playoffs of the IPL 2025 due to international commitments. The Three Lions will be locking horns with the West Indies in the three-match series, and they have been asked bythe ECB to be available for that.

The series will start on 29th May, and England players, in particular Jos Buttler (Gujarat Titans), Jacob Bethell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Will Jacks (Mumbai Indians), whose teams are likely to qualify, will be heading back home ahead of playoffs of IPL 2025, which will begin from 29th May.

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