Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock to miss their IPL teams' first match this season
In a disappointing development for the IPL fans, South African stars Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and David Miller will not be available for their respective teams' season openers this year.
According to InsideSport, the IPL franchises will miss their services for their respective first matches of the competition because of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League series between South Africa and Pakistan.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Vishwanathan confirmed to InsideSport that Lungi Ngidi will join the team's camp only after April 5.
“Ngidi will join the team only after April 5. Ngidi will have to follow the same guidelines as others and will be put in quarantine once he arrives. Therefore he will not be available for selection for the opening game," said Kasi Vishwanathan.
Lungi Ngidi's Chennai Super Kings will square off against the Delhi Capitals in their opening match of IPL 2021 according to the IPL 2021 match list. The Delhi-based franchise will miss their South African speedsters Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada.
The Mumbai Indians will also play without wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock in their season opener versus the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Kagiso Rabada and other South African stars could even miss 2 IPL matches
The South African stars will leave for the IPL after their ODI series against Pakistan. If the franchises arrange a chartered flight for all IPL-bound players, they will not have to quarantine in India and will be able to join their squads soon.
However, if the players are not allowed to move from one bio-bubble to another, they will have to quarantine for a week. As a result, they could even miss two or three matches in IPL 2021.