The BCCI wants to restart IPL 2025 from May 16, but many hurdles need to be cleared before the players take the field again. Australian cricketers, who returned home after the suspension of the tournament due to India-Pakistan tension, are not interested in returning to India for the remaining matches.
The Indian cricket board had already informed the franchise to recall their players, but the ball is not in their court, as a lot will depend on the players’ willingness.
Gujarat Titans are the only team that has taken the resumption of the matches seriously. GT held a training session at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. According to a report in Cricbuzz, Shubman Gill’s team had an intense practice session for three hours. Kagiso Rabada and Sherfane Rutherford, the overseas players, were also part of it.
“The GT players were supposed to leave, but after the announcement of ceasefire and talk of resumption of the matches, they decided to stay back in Ahmedabad,” the Gujarat Cricket Association and GT members told Cricbuzz.
Gujarat are currently leading the standings with 16 points from 11 games. Rabada missed several games due to a provisional ban for recreational drug use. He left India and returned to South Africa recently before making a comeback.
He played just two matches and had to complete an education and awareness programme to prevent him from breaking rules in the future.
Rabada had consumed cocaine earlier this year. His legal team argued that cocaine was consumed before the start of the SA20 in South Africa and not on the day of testing, but their appeal was rejected.