Listen to this article

After a brief halt, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season is set to resume from May 17 with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday.

The IPL 2025 was suspended on May 9 after the Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals match was suspended after 10 overs were played in Dharamsala. The game was suspended as a result of Pakistan’s attack on nearby cities.

The league was halted for a week, with the players, coaching staff returning home. But in a week, the league is set to resume, but the franchises face a major issue with the availability of overseas players.

The IPL was originally set to conclude on May 25 with the final match in Kolkata. However, due to the 1-week break, the league has now been extended till June 3. Meanwhile, International cricket resumes from the last week of May, while the all-important World Test Championship final will be played from 11 June, just 7 days after the final.

Meanwhile, this has caused issues with the availability of overseas players, especially English, South African, and Australian players. Below, we take a look at the list of players set to be unavailable for the 2nd half of the IPL 2025.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿England

England is set to host West Indies in a 3-match ODI series and as many T20I matches commencing from May 29 with the ODIs, while the T20I starts from 6 June. Thus, players who have been included in the ODI squad will not be available for the playoffs.

This will mean players like Jos Buttler (Gujarat Titans), Jacob Bethell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), and Will Jacks (Mumbai Indians) will be unavailable for their respective teams, in the IPL 2025 playoffs that start from 29 May. Meanwhile, RCB batter Phil Salt should be available for the rest of the tournament as he hasn’t been included in ODI squad and will play in the T20Is starting from June 6.

  • Jos Buttler
  • Jacob Bethell
  • Will Jacks

🇦🇺Australia

As for Australia, they will play in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025 Final starting from 11 June. However, most of the Australian players will be available for the IPL 2025 season. CA has left it to the players themselves to decide whether they want to play the rest of the IPL 2025.

Pat Cummins, Australia’s Test captain, and Travis Head are notable players who are coming back to join Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). They have already been ruled out of the playoff race and have 3 games left against LSG on May 19, RCB on May 23 and KKR on May 25. After that, the duo will return to join Australia camp.

However, there is some concern relating to other players. Delhi Capitals‘ Mitchell Starc and Jake Fraser-McGurk are unlikely to join the Capitals, as a breakdown of what transpired with them in Dharamsala on the night the game between Punjab Kings and the Capitals was suspended.

Punjab’s Josh Inglis, who has also been in the final match squad, is also uncertain about returning for the remaining matches with PBKS still in the playoffs race. Meanwhile, the big miss will be RCB’s leading wicket-taker Josh Hazlewood, who has an injury.

  • Josh Hazlewood
  • Mitchell Starc
  • Jake Fraser-McGurk
  • Josh Inglis

🇿🇦South Africa

The biggest contingent of players who are unlikely to be available for the entire 2nd half of the IPL 2025 season is the South African players. South Africa will face Australia in the WTC final in London starting from 11 June.

There are a total of 20 South African players in the IPL 2025, out of which, 8 have been selected in South Africa’s WTC Final squad.

Ryan Rickelton (Mumbai Indians), Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians), Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals) are the 8 players who have picked in South Africa squad.

All the players have been asked by CSA to assemble at Arundel, a town in England, on May 31. There, the side is scheduled to play a friendly match against Zimbabwe before heading to London for the final match.

  • Ryan Rickelton
  • Corbin Bosch
  • Kagiso Rabada
  • Lungi Ngidi
  • Marco Jansen
  • Aiden Markram
  • Tristan Stubbs
  • Wiaan Mulder
author avatar
Tasirul Momin
With dreams of becoming a cricketer thwarted due to monetary issues, Tasirul Momin now uses his cricketing brain to craft insightful content for CricTips.
Share this post!