In a news which is set to impact several franchises it is now being reported that South African players participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) could arrive a bit late to India for the marquee event. The news comes three weeks to go for the start of the competition with the first match of the T20 tournament set to be played on March 31.
Report suggest that the players will be late as the Proteas are expected to play two ODIs against Netherlands which means that the players who are part of that squad could miss the first few matches for their respective franchises. As many as nine players are likely to be in this including Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram, Punjab Kings star Kagiso Rabada.
If the reports are to be believed then the Orange Army could be the worst hit among all the participating franchises as apart from skipper Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen are also part of the SRH squad. While Delhi will miss the services of Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, reigning IPL champions Gujarat Titans will see David Miller missing out from the Playing 11 while Quinton De Kock who plays for the Lucknow Super Giants will also be arriving late. Tristan Stubbs of the Mumbai Indians is another Protean star who could then miss out on the initial bit of action in IPL 2023.
It is pertinent to note that South Africa are in danger of being forced to play the ICC ODI World Cup Qualifiers and will need to perform well in their remaining matches of the Super League to seal a place for themselves in the marquee event. Notably, only top eight guarantee themselves a direct berth while currently the Men from the Rainbow nation are placed at the ninth position. It is in this context that Cricket South Africa have asked permission from the BCCI to allow their first-choice players to be part of the two-match series against the Dutch.