London: England have a busy international schedule from June onwards. Hence the England players are unlikely to be available for the remainder of the suspended IPL if the T20 tournament is rescheduled this year. This information was given by ECB director of cricket Ashley Giles here Monday. There were 11 Englishman in various franchises in the suspended IPL.
The IPL was suspended last week after multiple Covid-19 cases inside its bio-bubble. There are two windows for the T20 event to be rescheduled this year. The first is in the second half of September and before the T20 World Cup (October-November). The second one is after mid-November when the World Cup ends.
But England’s top players will be in action at both times. They have tours to Bangladesh and Pakistan in September and October. They will also compete with Australia for the Ashes right after the T20 World Cup.
“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. 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 added.
Giles dismissed suggestion that this signals a change in approach from the ECB. The management had earlier allowed up to a dozen players to miss the Test series against New Zealand due to their involvement in the IPL.
“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,” the former England left-arm spinner pointed out.
Giles expressed hope that players would be allowed ‘a bit more freedom’ from bio-bubbles as the England summer progresses. The Test players are likely to enter their latest bubble from around May 28. He is also keen to see England players appearing in the ‘Hundred’ which starts July 21 and runs until August 21. England’s Test series against India is scheduled to start in Nottingham August 4.
“We’d love them to be involved in the ‘Hundred’ at some point and the launch of that competition. It would be great to have our best players playing in it. But we’ll have to look at workloads very carefully,” Giles informed.