South Africa’s head coach, Shukri Conrad, has made it plain that all of his players who are headed to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final and are playing for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 must return by May 26.
It caused concerns for teams getting ready for international duty, particularly South Africa, who will play Australia in the WTC Final at Lord’s from June 11 to June 15. The lucrative league is scheduled to start on May 17 and conclude with the final on June 3.
Due to growing tensions between India and Pakistan, the IPL 2025 was briefly suspended and then prolonged till June 3.
Now that things were in balance, the BCCI had discussions with stakeholders and the government. The updated schedule for the last 17 games was announced in a statement issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday.
In order to give our players enough time before our flight on the 30th, we originally agreed with the IPL and the BCCI that after the last game on May 25th, our players would return on the 26th. From our point of view, nothing has changed,” Shukri Conrad, the head coach of the Proteas men’s team, said on Tuesday, May 13, according to Cricbuzz.
That is the continuing discussion between the Director of Cricket (Enoch Nkwe) and Pholetsi Moseki (CSA CEO), who are at a higher salary grade than I am. They are addressing that. However, as of right now, I don’t believe we’re making any progress on that. Hopefully, our goal of having our players return on the 26th is realized,” he said.
The Proteas players are anticipated to leave their teams and go to England sooner for the one-off final, since Cricket South Africa (CSA) has already revealed their team for the WTC Final.
The WTC final squad comprises the following players: 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).
