Faf du Plessis concerned about IPL happening before 2019 World Cup

South African captain Faf du Plessis has expressed his displeasure over the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League taking place just before the World Cup. He has admitted that he is concerned about the workload of his bowlers ahead of the World Cup.

Talking to the media ahead of the start of the second Test against Pakistan at Cape Town, du Plessis said, "The IPL is just before the World Cup, and the last thing you want is one of your bowlers getting injured just before the tournament. That's something that's a concern for us, seeing how we can play that scenario out best."

The South African skipper added, "With Dale [Steyn], or KG [Rabada] or any other bowlers, in terms of workload, the World Cup is still quite a while away. Probably you'll see that closer to the World Cup we'll think about stuff like [managing workloads]."

Faf is not the first person to point this out as there are a few cricket boards who are not happy with the popular T20 tournament taking place just before the global event. Earlier, Cricket Australia (CA) and England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) issued directives allowing their players to play in the IPL for a lesser duration in order to keep them fresh for the World Cup.

A few players - Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell - themselves were aware of the situation and pulled themselves out of the IPL auction that took place in Jaipur last month.

The South African hopefuls, who will be a part of the IPL, are du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings), Heinrich Klaasen (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada (Delhi Capitals), Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians) and David Miller (Kings XI Punjab).

So far, only Cricket West Indies (CWI) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have agreed to allow their players for the whole tournament. Even BCCI are contemplating to rest the likes of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah for a few matches in the 2019 IPL.