IPL 2025: Which Franchise Will Be Most Affected By Player Unavailability? – Cricket.com

Good news, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is back, as the BCCI have announced May 17 (Saturday) as the resumption date. 
Bad news, there’s a strong chance that most of the top players from Australia, South Africa, England and the West Indies could be unavailable for the remainder of the IPL. 
The biggest issue out there is that IPL now extends beyond May 25 (original schedule), which means the players will have to get a NOC (No Objection Certificate) for beyond that time frame. 
Why would some of the top players miss the remainder of IPL 2025?
Unfortunately, due to IPL’s reschedule, the second half of the tournament is going to coincide with multiple international tours. What are the tours that have been scheduled?
West Indies tour of Ireland, 3 ODIs & 3 T20Is: May 21-June 15
West Indies tour of England, 3 ODIs & 3 T20Is: May 29-June 10
South Africa vs Zimbabwe, One-off Four-day Fixture: June 3
World Test Championship Final, Australia vs South Africa: June 11
How will it affect the teams that are fighting for the playoffs, and who will it affect the most?
Gujarat Titans
Players they could potentially miss: Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Jos Buttler (England), Gerald Coetzee (South Africa), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)

Gujarat’s hopes of a second IPL title could be massively dented by the rescheduling, given that they will miss three out of their four premier overseas starters due to IPL’s clash with the international calendar. Rutherford has been named in Windies’ ODI squad, Buttler is a regular in England’s ODI setup, and both Coetzee and Rabada will be integral to South Africa for the WTC final. 
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Players who they could potentially miss: Liam Livingstone (England), Jacob Bethell (England), Phil Salt (England), Romario Shepherd (West Indies), Lungi Ngidi (South Africa), Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
RCB are the team that will be massively affected by the rescheduling as they could miss out on six of their overseas stars.

With Hazlewood already injured, Australia wouldn’t want to take a risk with him partaking in the IPL. The English trio of Livingstone, Bethell and Salt are likely to be named in England’s ODI squad. 
Meanwhile, Shepherd is already part of Windies’ limited-overs setup, which means he could miss the competition from May 21, and Ngidi could too miss a chunk of games, given he’s part of South Africa’s Test setup.
Punjab Kings
Players they could potentially miss: Marco Jansen (South Africa), Josh Inglis (Australia)
PBKS might be the least of the affected franchises, given that they might just miss the duo of Jansen and Inglis, who are both part of the WTC final squad for their respective side. Not just that, the Proteas wouldn’t want to risk Jansen at IPL for the cost of an ICC title. That being said, even though the number is just two, PBKS will be missing two key players. Jansen, in particular, has been a complete game-changer for them.
Mumbai Indians
Players they could potentially miss: Will Jacks (England), Corbin Bosch (South Africa), Ryan Rickelton (South Africa), Reece Topley (England)
MI might have to play the rest of the tournament without the South African duo of Bosch and Rickelton, who will be part of Proteas’ WTC squad. Meanwhile, there’s a cloud of uncertainty over whether Jacks and Topley would feature, given that both of them are part of England’s white-ball plans. 
Delhi Capitals
Players they could potentially miss: Tristan Stubbs (South Africa), Mitchell Starc (Australia)
Like PBKS, DC on paper just miss two players, but both Stubbs and Starc are integral members of the playing XI. While DC are still expecting Starc to feature, it remains to be seen whether the pacer would return, given there’s a WTC mace up for grabs.

Hence, DC, who are struggling for a spot in the top four, might face a tough time in forcing themselves into the playoffs. 
Lucknow Super Giants
Players they could potentially miss: Aiden Markram (South Africa), Matthew Breetzke (South Africa), Shamar Joseph (West Indies)
LSG will be missing Aiden Markram, who has been key for them this season at the top of the order alongside Mitchell Marsh. But apart from that, they will only miss the duo of Breetzke and Joseph, who have spent all their time in India on the bench thus far in IPL 2025. 
Kolkata Knight Riders
Unlike the above franchises, KKR are in a much safer space, as none of their international players are part of any setup, meaning they will have the entire squad to choose from.
What did Cricket Australia say about this situation?
"Cricket Australia will support players in their individual decisions whether to return to India or not," CA said in a statement.
"Team management will work through preparation implications for the World Test Championship final for those players who choose to play in the remaining IPL matches.
"No doubt it was an extreme situation, and we feel it's really appropriate to support their individual experience and their individual decision as they work through that over the coming days."
So, it isn’t yet confirmed who will return to India for the resumption of IPL 2025. 
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