Dean Elgar at peace with his players choosing IPL over Bangladesh Tests

South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar expressed his views on players opting out of the Test series against Bangladesh in order to play the Indian Premier League. With a very open mind, he said that he understood the difficult position that the players were put under, and supports them in their decision of opting to play the IPL in India instead of the Test series.

South Africa faced a major defeat in the ODI series against Bangladesh as the visitors scripted history by winning their first-ever ODI series against the hosts. After the ODI series was tied at 1-1, Bangladesh won the final game by a huge margin of nine wickets, returning from a seven-wicket defeat faced in the second game.

“I’m pretty comfortable with where I sit with the players that aren’t here. I’ve had some really detailed chats with them, to find out mentally where they are from the perspective of playing a Test series to playing in the IPL. I’m very comfortable with the answers they gave me,” said Elgar at a virtual press conference organized by Cricket South Africa ahead of the Test series.

South Africa is going into the Test series with a weakened squad

“I do know the players were put in a situation with regard to making a decision on their availability. I’m pretty sure a lot of them were put in a situation and had to deal with circumstances in which they wouldn’t have made a rash decision if it didn’t mean a helluva lot to them,” Elgar added.

Big names like Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, and Marco Jansen were picked up by various teams at the IPL mega auction. But the players had to go through many conversations with the players’ body and the concerned cricket board before they came to a decision.

South Africa squad for Bangladesh Tests

Dean Elgar (C), Temba Bavuma, Daryn Dupavillon, Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Duanne Olivier, Keegan Petersen, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo.