In a major blow to Dean Elgar's side, South Africa Test players including Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi have chosen to play the IPL over the home Test series against Bangladesh beginning March 31.
The series starts with three ODIs scheduled on March 18, 20 and 23 respectively where the star players will be available.
Earlier, majority of the South Africa players were expected to miss the first week of IPL starting March 26 due to national commitments.
ESPN Cricinfo reported that the Rabada, Ngidi and Marco Jansen will miss the Tests to be available for the IPL from the beginning.
The IPL players in the squad are Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada and Rassie van der Dussen.
Jansen, who impressed in the home series against India, was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL auction while Punjab Kings secure the services of Rabada. Ngidi will represent Delhi Capitals.
Question marks remain over the availability of Anrich Nortje due to fitness issues. He was one of the retained players for Delhi Capitals.
Test skipper Dean Elgar had called "litmus test of loyalty" for the IPL bound players.
However it is understood that BCCI top brass must have reached out to CSA counter-parts for a middle of the road solution.
In the absence of their first-choice pace-attack, the Proteas are likely to field Lutho Sipamla and Lizaad Williams. While the report also suggested that there is a possibility of the Proteas stars playing the first Test, it would be highly unlikely that they would feature in both the Tests against Bangladesh in the coming days.
Meanwhile, a total of 70 league matches will be played from March 26 to May 22. The playoffs dates have not been finalised yet but the final will be played on May 29. The matches will be held across four venues in Maharashtra. Wankhede and DY Patil Stadium will host 20 matches each while the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai and MCA Stadium in Pune will play hosts to 15 games each. Chennai Super Kings will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2022 opener.
