Indian cricket has flexed its muscle to overrule South African plans for the world Test championship final, cutting back preparation time for the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen ahead of their showdown with Australia by insisting they stay in India until the end of the IPL.

The resumption of the IPL, after conflict between India and Pakistan, is a far bigger money spinner than the Test decider, forcing difficult conversations among boards and franchises as cricket’s hectic calendar strains to cope with a week’s delay.

CSA’s team performance arm initially pushed a hard line on Wednesday night, insisting that its eight IPL players would not be part of the resuming tournament for any longer than the originally slated May 25 finish of the competition.

“One thing we’ve made clear, and we are finalising it with the IPL and the BCCI, is that we are sticking to our original plan when it comes to WTC preparations with May 26 being the latest for the Test guys to come back,” CSA’s director of cricket Enoch Nkwe said overnight.

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But a few hours later, Nkwe issued a clarification to Indian and South African media that acknowledged conversations going on well above his station, at executive and board levels between CSA, the BCCI and IPL franchises.

“Correction – the squad will resume training for the game on June 3rd,” he said. “The matter is being discussed higher up than me. At ground level, we are focusing on preps for the WTC final.”

That backflip means Rabada, Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi and Tristan Stubbs, among others, may arrive in London only a week before the start of the WTC final, having spent the past couple of months focused on Twenty20 and now having to readjust to Test matches.

South Africa are scheduled to play a warm-up fixture against Zimbabwe at Arundel on June 3, but given Nkwe’s clarification the dates for that match may have to be revised.