South African players have made a big decision ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. Many fans thought that the stars from the South African country would join the IPL after the ICC World Test Championship series against the Bangladesh cricket team. The reason behind that was captain Dean Elgar’s comment about loyalty. Elgar said that they will see where their players’ loyalty lies.
Elgar wanted the star South African players to be available for the series against Bangladesh because it is a part of the ICC World Test Championship series. However, that is not happening now. According to ESPNCricinfo, the South African players who have IPL 2022 contracts have unanimously agreed to skip the ICC World Test Championship series against the Bangladesh cricket team.
“The original agreement with the BCCI was that we would release our players for the IPL. But the IPL window has gotten bigger, and our agreement remains the same,” an insider informed ESPNcricinfo.
South African players likely to be available from the beginning of IPL 2022
Now that the Proteas stars have decided against playing in the home Test series against the Bangladesh cricket team, they all will likely be available to play IPL 2022 from March 26 only. However, there is a question mark over Delhi Capitals pacer Anrich Nortje’s availability.
“Anrich Nortje is most certainly out of the Bangladesh Tests due to injury, and the mystery over his IPL availability continues,” the report reads.
It will be interesting to see when do the South African players join their IPL squads. The Proteas will play a 3-match ICC Cricket World Cup Super League series against the Bangladesh cricket team before the IPL 2022 season.