Johannesburg, Feb 11 (IANS) In a major relief to Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has said it will consider releasing some of the players for the cash-rich league who would, otherwise, be busy in a home Test series against Bangladesh during the first phase of the tournament.
South Africa and Bangladesh will play three ODIs and two Tests which run March 18 and April 11 and Proteas players like Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen and Aiden Markram could miss a significant number of IPL matches if they join the league after the end of the two red-ball matches.
Notably, IPL 2022 is, tentatively, expected to start on March 27 in all likelihood will be played around four venues in Maharashtra. The players coming after April 11, would not be available for five-six matches because of the five days of required quarantine after they arrive in India.
The CSA said it will consider the matter but didn’t give an unfettered commitment.
“We will consider the matter after the IPL auction has taken place when we know which players are going to play in the IPL,” Lawson Naidoo, the head of CSA, told Cricbuzz on Friday.
The comments by the head of CSA could boost the price of Proteas players in the mega auction on Saturday and Sunday.
Nortje has already been retained by Delhi Capitals and bowlers like Rabada, Ngidi, Jansen and Markram could be in huge demand if their availability is not severely restricted.
Asked if the likes of Rabada and Nortje will be released, the CSA boss said, “The team management has not discussed the matter as yet.”
Meanwhile, the availability of Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir is not a problem since they either don’t play Tests or don’t play for the country at all. There are 33 South Africans on the 590-player auction list.
–IANS
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