After Cricket South Africa announced a seven-match white-ball series against Pakistan in the first half of April (2-16), franchises in the IPL are concerned about the availability of the Proteas players for the upcoming season, and have asked the BCCI for clarity.
There are 7 SA players in 5 IPL franchises with last year’s runners-up Delhi Capitals and former champions Chennai Super Kings likely to be the most affected.
Cricbuzz reported, that the Delhi side has officially taken the matter up with the BCCI as they could be without their lead pacers, depending on the quarantine requirements for the SA players, which will be decided based on the venue.
The BCCI has assured that they will seek clarity on this from CSA. The report add that the board had also recently informed the franchises that it "will send the availability details of overseas players shortly."
For Delhi, Kagiso Rabada (17 matches, 30 wickets) and Anrich Nortje (16 matches, 22 wickets) were extremely important in their run to the final and understandably, the side would not want to be without them.
Going by the schedule, the SA players could be unavailable for the initial phase as the IPL begins on April 9 or 10.
In response to our query, the CSA said that they will address any and all circumstances surrounding the IPL directly with the BCCI. Hemang Amin, the COO of the IPL, did not respond.
Apart from Rabada and Nortje, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings), Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians), AB de Villiers (Royals Challengers Bangalore) and David Miller (Rajasthan Royals) are the other South Africans retained by the franchises.
Chris Morris, Van der Dussen, Wayne Parnell, Beuran Hendricks, Hardus Viljoen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Daryn Dupavillon, Morne Morkel, George Linde, Dwaine Pretorius, David Wiese, Gerald Coetzee, Marco Jansen and Jacques Snyman are the 14 South Africans who are shortlisted to go under the hammer at the auction on February 18.
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