CSA wants its players to return home from IPL on May 26

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has said it wants its players back home by May 26. There are 20 players from South Africa, all in all, in this year's edition of the IPL 2025 but on Tuesday (May 13) eight of them were named in the squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, to be held at Lord's from June 11.

"The initial agreement with the IPL and the BCCI was with the final being on the (May) 25th, our players would return on the 26th so that it allows them ample time before we fly out on the 30th. Nothing has changed from our perspective.

"That is the ongoing conversations that are being had between people in a higher pay grade than I am, i.e. the Director of Cricket (Enoch Nkwe) and Pholetsi Moseki (CSA CEO), so they're dealing with that. But as it stands, we're not budging on that, I don't think. We want our players back on the 26th, and hopefully that comes to fruition," Proteas men's head coach Shukri Conrad said on Tuesday (May 13).

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) have been named in the WTC final squad.

It remains to be said that as SRH are out of contention for a playoff berth, Mulder could be one of the players to return on May 26 as the Hyderabad-based franchise play their final game on May 25 against defending champions KKR. The same could be possible with LSG players as they face an uphill task for qualification despite their last game scheduled to be played on May 27 against RCB.

When a senior CSA official was contacted, he said the negotiations with the BCCI are underway. "We are still in discussions with IPL & BCCI," Enoch Nkwe, the CSA director of cricket, told Cricbuzz.

The selected players have been asked to assemble in Arundel (a town in England) on 31 May. They will play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe from June 3-6 before heading to London on June 7 for the WTC final.

By May 25, the cut-off date for the South Africans to return, the league stage in the revised schedule would not be complete due to the one-week suspension forced by border tensions. As per the revised schedule, the league stage shall end on May 27 and the play-offs will start from May 29.

Apart from the eight WTC final-bound players, the other South Africans in the IPL are Dewald Brevis (a replacement player in Chennai Super Kings), Faf du Plessis and Donovan Ferreira (Delhi Capitals), Gerald Coetzee (Gujarat Titans), Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje (Kolkata Knight Riders), David Miller, Matthew Breetzke (Lucknow Super Giants), Nandre Burger, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius (Rajasthan Royals) and Heinrich Klaasen (SunRisers Hyderabad).

After a one week pause, the IPL resumes on May 17.