Vivo IPL 2021: English Cricketers not likely to feature in the rescheduled Vivo IPL 2021 says ECB.
Vivo IPL 2021: Ashley Giles, the director of the England Cricket Board (ECB) in an interview revealed that the Cricketers from the United Kingdom are highly unlikely to feature in the rescheduled Vivo IPL 2021. Giles stated that they have a packed international calendar from June onwards where they will be competing with multiple nations.
Season 14 of the Vivo IPL was midway suspended by the BCCI on May 3rd after a couple of franchise reported covid cases inside the bio-bubbles. Though there is still no clarity on the re-conduction of the IPL however if it happens it will be in two available windows. The first one is in September before the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and the second window is after the completion of the World Cup in late November.
The information shared by Ashley Giles is evident of the fact that the England players will be busy in their international fixtures in both the windows and won’t take part in Phase-2 of the IPL.
England is scheduled to tour Pakistan and Bangladesh in September/October before the World Cup and after the T20 World Cup, the English players will be involved in the marquee Ashes Test series against Australia.
“We’re planning on involvement of England players in England matches. We’ve got a full FTP schedule. So if those tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh are going ahead, I’d expect the players to be there,” Giles said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“None of us knows what a rearranged IPL looks like at the moment, where it’s going to be or when. But from when we start this summer against New Zealand, our programme is incredibly busy,” Giles said.
“We’ve got a lot of important, high-profile cricket including the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. And we’re going to have to look after our players.”
Giles clarified that there is no change in the approach towards the BCCI and the IPL as they had earlier allowed their players to completely feature in the IPL. He cited that earlier all the NOCs and the contracts to the Players in IPL were granted before the schedule against New Zealand was announced.
“The New Zealand scenario was very different. Those Test matches were formalised at the end of January, by which time all those contracts and NOCs (no objection certificates) were signed for full involvement in the IPL.”
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