THE national selectors will be looking for some critical answers when the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starts on the sub-continent on Friday.

The IPL is not your normal cricket event. In the first place it is a Bollywood Entertainment Spectacular and the game itself has to fall within that parameter. It has given cricket a new profile as a global code that could just make its way into future Olympic Games, it has given the game’s super stars access to the sort of earning power that was previously well out of their reach, and it has most importantly brought a new audience to the game both through the glitz and glamour at the stadia and through the massive influence of television.

The IPL draws virtually all the big names of cricket – both present and, in some cases, past – subject to the guidelines of the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme and it is much to Cricket South Africa’s credit that this country will be just as well represented as any other foreign power in this particular Indian domestic competition.

It is also the only top level competition taking place in this format of the game before the start of the next edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean at the end of April.

There is thus every reason for both the form and fitness of the leading Proteas’ candidates to be closely monitored over the course of the next six weeks.

The best possible scenario would be a return to form by JP Duminy in the colours of the Mumbai Indians, a resurgence in the form of spinners Johan Botha (Rajasthan Royals) and Roelof van der Merwe (Bangalore Royal Challengers), the continued development of Wayne Parnell (Delhi Daredevils) and an injury-free tournament for the likes of Graeme Smith (Rajasthan Royals), Jacques Kallis (Bangalore Royal Challengers), AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils) and Albie Morkel (Chennai Super Kings).

Although the IPL is a tournament dominated by the power hitters, the role of the bowlers is becoming increasingly important as the realization dawns that wickets are the only way to halt the flow of runs.

Virtually the entire Proteas’ attack will be in India and the opportunity will be there to compare the varying skills of Parnell, Dale Steyn (Bangalore Royal Challengers), Morne Morkel (Rajasthan Royals), Charl Langeveldt (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Yusuf Abdulla (Kings XI Punjab).

South African players contracted to the IPL

Chennai: Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel, Justin Kemp

Deccan: Herschelle Gibbs

Delhi: AB de Villiers, Wayne Parnell

Kings XI Punjab: Yusuf Abdulla

Kolkata: Charl Langeveldt, Morne van Wyk

Mumbai: JP Duminy, Ryan McLaren

Rajasthan: Graeme Smith, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel

Bangalore: Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe, Dillon du Preez