South Africa’s Test skipper Dean Elgar has said that he has no idea if his countrymates, who have contracts in IPL 2022, will be going to be selected again in national colours. Elgar had pleaded with them not to go initially and urged them to play the Test series against Bangladesh instead.

Six South Africans – Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram – received contracts at the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega-action from different franchises. South Africa’s Test captain Dean Elgar pleaded with them not to join them from the beginning of the cash-rich league, which started on March 26. Instead, he urged them to plat the recently-concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which began on March 31.

However, the players decided not to agree with Elgar, and Cricket South Africa (CSA) left out all six of them from the squad for the Bangladesh series. They won both matches by handsome margins, first by 220 runs and then, by 332 runs.

When asked about his thoughts on their choices to go for IPL instead of staying home for national duties, Elgar said that he does not know if they will ever be selected to play for their country again. “I don’t know if those guys are going to be selected again; that’s out of my hands,” Elgar said at the post-match conference on Monday (April 11).

In some of their key players’ absence, Keshav Maharaj starred for South Africa. He took 16 wickets in two matches, averaging 12.12 to be fittingly adjudged the Player of the Series. Their next Test assignment is in England in August. Elgar became the captain of South Africa for the first time there in July 2017, when Faf du Plessis was on paternity leave to miss the first Test of that series at Lord’s.