South African players IPL 2022 participation in a fix, after test skipper Dean Elgar says he will persuade players to complete national duties.
The participation of the South African players in the upcoming Tata iPL 2022 has come under scanner following test skipper Dean Elgar’s statement of persuading players to complete national duties. Elgar stated that he will try to convince IPL bound South African players to prioritise national duties over their IPL commitments.
Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa, consisting three-Test and three ODI’s, will overlap with the proceedings with the fifteenth edition of the Indian Premier League. While the IPL is set to begin on March 26, the South Africa vs Bangladesh series will commence from March 18 to April 12.
Elgar explicitly stated that players need to be clear about their participation in the IPL 2022 or they want to complete their national duties.
“The players need to give Cricket South Africa an indication of if they are keen to go to the IPL or if they are keen to play for the Test side. It’s a bit of a tough one putting that in the players’ box but, this I guess, this is where you see where players’ loyalty lies,” said Dean Elgar in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.
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He further said that it was their national performance that landed them lucrative IPL contracts.
“They musn’t forget that Test cricket or one-day cricket got them into the IPL and not the other way around.”
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has left the choice to feature in the IPL or play national cricket with the players.
As many as 11 South African players have bagged IPL 2022 deals of which six are regular test players while three are in the ODI squad. The likes of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen all have comprehensive contracts from their respective IPL franchises.
South Africa needs all its players in the team to fancy its chances against Bangladesh and it would be an interesting job to persuade the players, said Dean Elgar.
“I can just make them aware of their position within our set-up. They all play a big role. It’s up to me to go up to each individual and point out to them that they musn’t forget where they’ve come from as players and where we’ve come from as a group.”
“The next few days might be busy and interesting for me. I owe it to our group to give them the best chance to make a decision.”
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