South Africa announce squad for Bangladesh ODIs, eight IPL-bound players included

Johannesburg, March 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Africa on Tuesday announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming home ODI series against Bangladesh, starting on March 18. The Temba Bavuma-led side will miss the services of Sisanda Magala and Anrich Nortje for the series. Magala missed out owing to fitness concerns while Nortje is still recovering from his hip injury.

The three-match series, which will be played across Centurion and Johannesburg, will finish on March 23, just three days before the start of the IPL, which could mean the South African players chosen for the ODIs could miss some of their franchises' early matches.

South Africa's squad includes eight players who are set to take part in the IPL -- Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Dwaine Pretorius and Marco Jansen.

A three-day quarantine is mandatory for all teams before they enter the IPL bubble, but this rule will be relaxed if players are arriving from another bubble. Though the South Africa-Bangladesh series is set to be played within a "managed environment", which is more relaxed than a bio-bubble and which CSA used for its recent domestic T20 competition. This means players will be permitted to go to outdoor spaces including beaches, parks and open-air restaurants. So, it remains to be seen whether it affects their quarantine requirements in the IPL 2022 or not.

However, there is set to be a bigger clash between national commitments and the IPL, when South Africa play their Test series against Bangladesh, which is set to run from March 31 to April 12.

CSA earlier confirmed that the choice between the Test series and the IPL would be left to the players while Test captain Dean Elgar suggested the choice would show "where players' loyalty lies".

"The players in the one-day squad who are not playing in the Tests will likely leave for IPL after the ODI series. We will have more clarity on the six players who are part of the Test group in the next couple of days," Victor Mpitsang, CSA's selection convenor, told ESPNcricinfo.

Six players -- Rabada, Ngidi, van der Dussen, Markram, Jansen and Nortje, are a part of South Africa's Test plans.

South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (capt), Keshav Maharaj (vice-capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Zubayr Hamza, Marco Jansen, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne

Source: IANS