They Mustn't Forget Test And ODIs Got Them Into The IPL - Dean Elgar Hoping To Persuade SA Players To Skip Early Part Of IPL 2022

South African Test captain Dean Elgar is hopeful that his teammates don’t end up choosing the Indian Premier League (IPL) over national duties. The debate rages on as the Proteas players will have to decide where their loyalties lie when the IPL 2022 season begins.

As of now, South Africa is scheduled to face off against Bangladesh in two Tests from March 30 to April 12. At the same time, the IPL season will kick off on March 26. Four South African fast bowlers – Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Anrich Nortje – are first-choice players in the Test squad.

“Just this morning I got off a call with the respective personnel at CSA to try and give us a guideline as to whether the players will be available or not. The outcome of that meeting is that the players need to give CSA an indication whether they’re keen to go to the IPL or if they’re keen to play for the Test side,” Elgar told in a virtual press conference on Friday.

However, they also have lucrative IPL contracts to fulfill. Leaving the decision to the players would seem like the right call but Elgar reminded them of their roots and how they earned the contract in the first place.

“It’s a tough one leaving that up to the players, but this is how we’ll see where their loyalty lies. They mustn’t forget that Test and one-day cricket got them into the IPL, not the other way around.“

“That’s all I can give you now. I wish I had more, just for my own personal sanity. So I can prepare, knowing that most of my bowlers are potentially not going to be there if they choose to go the IPL route. Hopefully by next week that will be clearer for us,” he further added.

“The next few days might be busy and interesting for me” – Dean Elgar

Although it seems like a daunting task, as a captain, Elgar will have to sit down and have a chat with the players. If he is unable to convince them about playing Tests for South Africa, it is out of his hands.

“I can just make them aware of their position within our setup. They all play a big role. It’s up to me to go up to each individual and point out to them that they mustn’t forget where they’ve come from as players and where we’ve come from as a group. The next few days might be busy and interesting for me.”

“I owe it to our group to give them the best chance to make a decision. If it means I need to make them aware of their positions in the side, then I have to do that. Because for me it’s about the bigger picture. It’s about us playing as much Test cricket as possible. We’re already playing so little Test cricket. We can’t not have our best players around when the team is called upon to go out and perform,” Elgar noted.

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