IPL 2021 : Franchises’ officially ask BCCI for clarity regarding South African players’ availability issue

With South Africa announcing a home series against Pakistan, that will see their white-ball players being unavailable at least for a couple of months, IPL franchises, Delhi Capitals especially, have taken up the issue to the BCCI to seek clarity.

Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje were the best performers with the ball for Delhi Capitals last year, sharing as many as 52 wickets between them. Their availability was key for Delhi Capitals doing an encore of last year or going one step better, but the recently-planned Pakistan-South Africa series has come as a dampener.

Currently, there are as many as 7 South African players who have been retained by their respective franchises with as many as 14 fresh names who are shortlisted to go under the hammer at the auction on February 18.

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While Rabada and Nortje are two key figures for Delhi Capitals, 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 players who potentially miss out on a couple of weeks action.

BCCI to seek clarity from Cricket South Africa

In the wake of this incident, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have decided to take up the matter to Cricket South Africa to have sustained clarity ahead of the IPL auction in Mumbai.

The board has informed the franchises that it “will send the availability details of overseas players shortly.”

The seven-match SA-Pakistan series – three ODIs and four T20Is – is scheduled between April 2 and 16 in South Africa and the series is pretty important from a financial stand-point for Cricket South Africa, with the Australia series canceled and England pulling out of the tour abruptly mid-way.