Pak-bound Aus players set to miss part of IPL
TWO PLAYERS WHO ARE SOUGHT AFTER—THEY HAVE BEEN LISTED IN THE MARQUEE SET— ARE TEST CAPTAIN PAT CUMMINS AND OPENER DAVID WARNER.
MUMBAI: BCCI has confirmed to franchises that Australian players will not be available for the full IPL this year. Australian cricketers form the biggest overseas contingent (47) to be shortlisted for the mega auction this weekend. With a full-strength Australian squad named for the coming tour of Pakistan, franchises will have to account for their absence in the first half of IPL—it is likely to start on March 27—at the auction.
Two players who are sought after—they have been listed in the marquee set—are Test captain Pat Cummins and opener David Warner. Both have been picked for the three-Test series against Pakistan that ends on March 25. The duo is also likely to be selected for the following white-ball series that ends on April 5. The quarantine protocol—it is likely to be six days— before players can join the team bubble complicates overseas player availability. Three franchises—KKR, PK and RCB—are searching for captains and Cummins and Warner are top candidates. But uncertainty over their availability weakens their case. “Honestly, I don’t even know which date the auction is...I haven’t spent too much time on it,” Cummins told reporters on Wednesday.
Other Australians named for the Tests against Pakistan who would be on the franchises’ wishlist include pacer Josh Hazlewood, ex-captain Steve Smith and all-rounders Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green. ODI captain Aaron Finch and legspinner Adam Zampa, amongst others, will be in the white-ball squad for Pakistan. Cricket Australia has made it clear that even non-contracted players whose state teams make it to the Sheffield Shield final will not be free to travel before April 5.
“We do see IPL as a really good development opportunity when it fits,” George Bailey, Australia’s chairman of selectors, told the local media on Tuesday. “But we certainly won’t be releasing players to IPL while Australia are playing.”
IPL is moving to a 74-match competition, to be played over an extended window of two months, and the congested international calendar does not allow all players to take a break from appearing for their country. Franchises have been told that star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan would not be available between May 8 and 23, when they play a home Test series against Sri Lanka.
Availability of key South Africa quicks Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and the up-and-coming left-armer Marco Jansen is yet to be known. Cricket South Africa has confirmed a home series against Bangladesh with the white-ball leg ending on March 23. The two Tests that follow end on April 12. The South Africa selectors are yet to announce the squads though BCCI officials are confident that key players will be allowed to take a break from international cricket and be made available for IPL.
Interestingly, the England selectors’ latest call to overhaul the Test squad for the West Indies tour makes the likes of Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan available for the entire IPL. Jonny Bairstow though will only end his Test assignments in the Caribbean on March 28.