Forced IPL backflip alters South Africa's plans for World Test Championship final against Australia
South Africa have bowed to pressure and will allow players to feature in the IPL until a week before the World Test Championship final against Australia.
As some of Australia's biggest names continued to weigh up whether to return to India, Cricket South Africa backflipped on plans to pull their stars out of the tournament.
South African officials had initially indicated on Wednesday players would have to finish in the IPL on May 25, when the final was initially meant to be held before the tournament's postponement due to the conflict between India and Pakistan.
'It is an individual decision obviously, to return or to play or continue,' South Africa's director of cricket Enoch Nkwe had said at the time.
'But one thing we've made clear, and we are finalising that with IPL and BCCI, is sticking to our original plan when it comes to the WTC preparations.
'Obviously with May 26 being the latest for the Test guys to come back.'
But Nwke was later forced to change his tune, with players now able to stay until the June 3 final, eight days before the World Test Championship decider in London.
'Correction — the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd,' Nkwe said in a statement.
'The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final.'
South Africa have eight members of their World Test Championship squad featuring in the IPL, with seven of those still in finals contention.
Strike pace bowler Kagiso Rabada is playing for ladder-leading Gujarat, while Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Aiden Markram are in sides fighting to reach the finals.
Cricket Australia confirmed this week it would allow members of the Test squad to stay on in the IPL until the final, extending No-Objection Certificates and leaving players to make their own call.
Five members of Australia's World Test Championship squad are in the IPL, but Pat Cummins and Travis Head will both be finished by May 26 with Sunrisers Hyderabad out of finals calculations.
Josh Hazlewood will not immediately return to the tournament when it restarts on Sunday, instead opting to stay at home and have a niggling shoulder injury assessed.
He is still some chance to travel to India to play finals if Royal Challengers Bangalore reach the finals, but is expected to prioritise being fit for Australia.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Inglis are yet to confirm whether they will return, with both their sides able to reach finals.
Realistically, they would need to fly out by Friday to feature in the tournament's resumption.
The duo were each in Dharamshala last week when a match was abandoned due to air-raid warnings, leaving several players shaken.
Fellow Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk, who was also at the ground, has since opted against returning to the tournament citing personal reasons.
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