The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises heaved a sigh of relief as South Africa decided to cut back preparation time ahead of the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia.

The Proteas are due to face Australia in the WTC 2025 Final at Lord’s from June 11 to 15. Earlier, Cricket South Africa (CSA) demanded its players, including eight members selected for the WTC final, to return from the IPL 2025 by May 26.

However, the governing body changed its statement, saying that training for the marquee fixture will now take place from June 3.

“Correction – the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd. The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final,” said Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s Director Of Cricket, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

The decision has enabled Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs, among others, to take part in the revised IPL 2025 season.

The cash-rich league will resume on May 17 after being suspended for a week due to India-Pakistan conflict at the border.

South Africa’s warm-up match against Zimbabwe was planned for June 3-6 as part of WTC Final preparation, but this decision can also lead to cancellation or revising of the fixture.

As per the initial agreement, all overseas players were supposed to be released on May 26. But, according to revised schedule, even the league stage of the competition would not finish before May 27, while the final is scheduled for June 3.

“One thing we've made clear, and we are finalising 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 earlier.

The eight players picked in the WTC final squad include Corbin Bosch, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, and Tristan Stubbs, representing several IPL teams.