Cricket South Africa (CSA) has stated that they want the South African players back by May 26 from the IPL 2025, which is scheduled to resume from May 17 onwards. The IPL 2025 was suspended for a week on May 10 due to increasing tensions between India and Pakistan on the borders.

This led to the majority of foreign players flying back home amidst tight safety. Now that the BCCI has revealed the revised schedule for the remainder of the IPL 2025, the talks have begun between the South African and Indian boards for the availability of the players.

Among the 20 South African players currently involved in the IPL, eight have been selected for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, to be played between South Africa and Australia at Lord's from June 11.

The CSA announced that "the squad will assemble in Arundel (England) on May 31 and will play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe from June 3 to 6 before heading to London on June 7."

The final of the IPL 2025 will be played on June 3rd, and this leaves very few days for the Proteas players to prepare for the WTC final.

Hours after proclaiming a 'come back by May 26' writ, the CSA backs down and claims negotiations between boards are continuing. With IPL owners owning all SA20 franchises, a rollback is unsurprising.

CSA said the negotiations are underway between higher authorities of the South African board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"Yes, we want the test players back on the 26th, but hence I say the matter is getting finalized by higher-ups. “We can't confirm yet until the matter is settled between the two governing bodies (CSA and BCCI),” Enoch Nkwe, the CSA Director of Cricket, told Cricbuzz.

This has left the subject of South African players' participation in the IPL beyond May 25 open-ended.

Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians), Wiaan Mulder (SunRisers Hyderabad), Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Ryan Rickelton (Mumbai Indians), and Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals) are the eight players who are in the squad for the WTC final.

They represent seven different franchises, out of which at least five are in serious contention for playoff berths.

(Cricbuzz inputs)