IPL 2025 ready for lift-off: 17 South Africans in action

Seventeen South Africans will be part of the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League, which gets under way on Saturday.

The only team among the 10 participating sides which won’t have a South African in their squad are the Chennai Super Kings.

The most well-represented sides are Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants who have in their ranks Faf du Plessis, Tristan Stubbs and Donovan Ferreira (all Delhi) and David Miller, Aiden Markram and Matthew Breetzke (all Lucknow) respectively.

Only two of the 17 South Africans were retained by the teams they played for last season, namely Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals). All the other players were bought at auction.

74 matches

Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians) and Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad) found homes as replacements for injured players who have been ruled out of this year’s competition.

The tournament will feature 10 teams competing in 74 matches from Saturday to May 25. It will be held across 13 cities in India, with Kolkata hosting the opening ceremony and the final as the Kolkata Knight Riders are the defending champions.

The other South Africans in the competition are Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje, who’ll both play for Kolkota, Kwena Maphaka, who’ll run out for Rajasthan Royals, Lungi Ngidi, who’ll play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Marco Jansen, who’s moved to the Punjab Kings, Ryan Rickelton, who’ll feature for Mumbai and Kagiso Rabada and Gerald Coetzee, who’ll both turn out for Gujarat Titans.

None of the South Africans will captain a side and there are also no South African head coaches.

Winners

Out of the 15 franchises that have played in the league, the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are the most successful teams in the league’s history with five titles each, with Kolkata Knight Riders having won three titles.

The four teams who have won the tournament once are Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans.

The current champions, Kolkata, beat Hyderabad in the 2024 Indian Premier League final to clinch their third title.

Among the individual record-holders, Virat Kohli has scored the most number of runs (8,004), Quinton de Kock’s 140 not out in 2022 is the third highest score, while AB de Villiers’ 133 not out in 2015 is the fourth highest score.

Yuzvendra Chahal, with 205 wickets, is the highest wicket-taker.

SA players in the 2025 IPL:

Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Kagiso Rabada (Gujarat Titans), Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals), David Miller (Lucknow Super Giants), Marco Jansen (Punjab Kings), Anrich Nortje (Kolkata Knight Riders), Quinton de Kock (Kolkata Knight Riders), Gerald Coetzee (Gujarat Titans), Faf du Plessis (Delhi Capitals), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Kwena Maphaka (Rajasthan Royals), Lungi Ngidi (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Ryan Rickelton (Mumbai Indians), Matthew Breetzke (Lucknow Super Giants), Donovan Ferreira (Delhi Capitals), Wiaan Mulder (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians)