IPL 2021: South African players likely to miss opening games for their teams

CSK CEO gave update on Lungi Ngidi's availability for team's opening match on April 10.

With the 14^th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) set to begin from April 9 in India, South Africa cricketers like Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and David Miller are most likely to miss the opening games of their respective franchises.

The five cricketers, Rabada (Delhi Capitals), De Kock (Mumbai Indians), Nortje (Delhi Capitals), Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings), and Miller (Rajasthan Royals) are in the South Africa ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against Pakistan, starting on April 2 in Centurion.

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The South Africa-Pakistan ODI series ends on April 7, and even the IPL-bound players are allowed to leave the series after the second game on April 4, they would not be able to play the starting games of their respective teams as they would have to follow the mandatory quarantine rules as per BCCI SOPs.

Now, all the players will have to serve the mandatory seven-day quarantine period in India before joining their respective teams.

This means the South African players will be missing the first few games in the tournament. However, they may not have to undergo hard quarantine for seven days if they are shifted directly from one bio-bubble to another for the IPL 2021.

Recently, CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan revealed that Ngidi will arrive in India on April 5 and then he will have to serve mandatory quarantine after his arrival before joining the team.

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Ngidi will join the team only after April 5. Ngidi will have to follow the same guidelines as others and will be put in quarantine once he arrives. Therefore he will not be available for selection for the opening game,” Vishwanathan was quoted as saying by InsideSport.

Noteworthy, there is no update about Rabada and Nortje’s arrival, but the Delhi Capitals will be the most affected team in the IPL 14 by the absence of the Proteas stars who are an integral part of their bowling attack.

Mumbai Indians will most likely be without the services of their ace opener De Kock in the IPL 2021 opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 9.