IPL 2025 | Foreign players return to franchises amid clash with international fixtures

‌Foreign players have started returning to their franchises as the Indian Premier League 2025 season is set to resume on Saturday after its initial suspension last week due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan. Royal Challengers Bengaluru will host Kolkata Knight Riders on May 17th in the first match post-resumption with the final being pushed to June 3rd, eight days away from the originally scheduled date of May 25th.

England players Jos Buttler and Will Jacks will turn up for Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians respectively, while the availability of RCB duo Jacob Bethell and Liam Livingstone will boost the team’s hopes further. However, the revised IPL schedule means the playoff phase will clash with England’s white-ball tour against the West Indies starting on May 29 with the trio of Buttler, Jacks and Bethell set to miss the business end of the tournament after being named in the ODI squad. Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis will join Gujarat Titans as a replacement for Jos Buttler in case the team makes it to the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Jofra Archer and Moeen Ali join the Chennai Super Kings pair of Sam Curran and Jamie Overton, who have made themselves unavailable from the remaining matches of IPL 2025. Pacer Archer is out injured while Moeen has opted out from joining the KKR squad.

With both South Africa and Australia looking to kickstart their preparations for the World Test Championship summit clash from the end of this month, the players from the respective countries also face the same dilemma. Australian skipper Pat Cummins and batter Travis Head are expected to join Sunrisers Hyderabad for their remaining group games with the side already out of contention for a playoff spot.

Pacer Josh Hazlewood will be joining the RCB squad and will be available for the rest of the season as reported by Hindustan Times while left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc and Josh Inglis are yet to confirm whether they will join Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, respectively.

As many as eight players, who are part of various franchises in the IPL, are part of the South Africa squad for the WTC final set to start on June 11th at Lords. The batting trio of Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs are set to join Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, respectively along with pacers Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Corbin Bosch (MI), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Lungi Ngidi (RCB) and Wiaan Mulder (SRH). However, the WTC-bound players will leave India ahead of the playoffs to kickstart their preparations in the run-up to the summit clash next month.