The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League was meant to start this week, but probably won’t. The tournament has seen more than 50 South African players come and go over a dozen years. Some stuck around for several seasons, while others hardly got game time, if at all.

Jonathan Vandiar

• Just short of 20 years old at the time, the then Lions batsman was listed in the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the 2011 IPL. He never played a match amid an admittedly power-packed batting order, spearheaded by the trio of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli.

READ: Remembering when IPL was hosted in SA

Cameron Delport

• The hard-hitting left-hander was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2018 tournament, but didn’t play a match. Instead, the Knight Riders invested their quota of four overseas players per XI in Australians Chris Lynn and Mitchell Johnson, West Indians Andre Russell and Sunil Narine and others.

Davy Jacobs

• The former Warriors wicketkeeper-batsman is currently working closely with Canada, but eight years ago was an integral part of the Mumbai Indians’ order – and even opened the batting alongside the great Sachin Tendulkar. Jacobs, too, kept wicket to Sri Lanka pace ace Lasith Malinga and Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Yusuf Abdullah

• The bulky left-arm seamer relished a stint with the Kings XI Punjab in 2009, when the competition was held in South Africa. He had debuted for the Proteas two months prior and added a second cap later in the year.

Dillon du Preez

• The Port Elizabeth-born seamer signed a Kolpak contract with Leicestershire in 2008, and the following year joined the Royal Challengers where he featured alongside fellow South Africans Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis.

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