Blow for SRH, RCB & DC in IPL 2025 playoffs! Australia stars may pull out early to prepare for WTC final

IPL 2025 could witness Australian players pulling out of the league before the playoffs in order to prepare for World Test Championship (WTC) final. Pat Cummins and co. are all but confirmed to lock horns with South Africa at Lord’s from June 11 onwards in their second consecutive WTC final. This means the chances of Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have high chances of missing the knockout stages of the tournament in order to prepare for the WTC final.

The WTC final is set to commence from June 11 onwards, a little over two weeks from IPL 2025 final. While Pat Cummins and Travis Head are a part of SRH, Mitchell Starc will play for DC while Josh Hazlewood will return to RCB in IPL 2025. With the dates for IPL 2025 playoffs confirmed, it is all but sure that these above mentioned stars may pull out of the cash-rich league early in order to prepare for the clash against South Africa.

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All four players are an integral part of Australia’s Test XI and are instrumental for the team’s success in the WTC final. SRH are expected to be impacted massively, as they will not only mostly lose their captain Cummins for the IPL playoffs but will also miss the services of ace batter Head, should they make it to the final four. Similarly, Starc – who has moved on from KKR to DC in IPL 2025 – is also likely to skip the playoffs if the Capitals manage to finish in the top four. Apart from these three stars, RCB’s Josh Hazlewood would be the fourth Australian to pull out of the league even before it ends, handing the trophy-less team a blow.

It is pertinent to note that none of the other regulars in Australia’s Test XI – Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon – are a part of IPL 2025. Mitchell Marsh, who is a part of LSG, is currently out of contention for a spot in Australia’s XI after a string of poor performances.

Australia have sealed their spot in WTC final after a 3-1 victory against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They are likely to retain their spot as finalists unless they lose the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka in a lopsided fashion. Should SRH, DC and RCB make it to IPL 2025 playoffs, then they would most likely play without the services of these Australians, which could be a major headache for the teams.