South African stars to delay Test preparations under BCCI pressure: Report

The newspaper reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allegedly used its influence to ensure South African players' continued participation.

On May 8, the BCCI suspended the cash-rich league for a week due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan. After the cessation of hostilities, the IPL is set to resume on May 17 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru squaring off against the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

"One thing we've made clear, and we are finalizing it with the IPL and the BCCI, is that we are sticking to our original plan when it comes to WTC preparations with May 26 being the latest for the Test guys to come back," CSA's director of cricket Enoch Nkwe said, as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.

However, in just few hours, CSA's director Enoch Nkwe changed his stance, saying higher-level talks were happening between CSA, the BCCI, and IPL franchises, suggesting CSA had little choice in the matter.

"Correction - the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd," he declared.

"The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final," he said.

The IPL is a much bigger money-maker than the WTC final, which has led to tough discussions about scheduling between cricket boards and IPL franchises.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) initially insisted that their eight IPL players would leave by May 25 to prepare for the final.

Now, players like Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, and Tristan Stubbs may reach England just a week before the final, needing to switch from T20 mode to Test cricket quickly. South Africa's planned warm-up match against Zimbabwe on June 3 might also be affected.

This isn't the first time IPL commitments have affected WTC preparations. In 2023, several Indian players played the IPL final just a week before the Test final. Australia had only one player, Cameron Green, involved in the IPL playoffs that year.

This time, most of Australia's Test squad will be fresh. Only Josh Inglis, and maybe Mitchell Starc (who might pull out of the IPL after a chaotic exit from India), are still tied to IPL franchises. The rest, including Pat Cummins and Travis Head, will return to India briefly, but their team, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), is already out of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Australia is holding training camps in Brisbane and will prepare in London before the final begins on June 11. They won't play a practice match but will focus on match-style training.

Elsewhere, Australian pacer Sean Abbott won't return to the Pakistan Super League after a recent flight scare, though Ben Dwarshuis plans to resume playing.