Who will follow England’s lead in withholding players when IPL resumes?

Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, has asserted that the country’s posse of contracted cricketers will not miss international fixtures this year to participate in the rescheduled Indian Premier League (IPL), which was postponed earlier this month due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country. A potential window to complete the remainder of the IPL season is in September, before the Twenty20 World Cup. However, England are scheduled to tour Bangladesh and Pakistan for limited-overs matches during that period. “If those tours go ahead, I’d expect them (players) to be there,” Giles told British media. “We’re planning on the involvement of England players in England matches.” As many as 14 English players were part of IPL 2021 before its suspension.

With the ECB making its stance clear, it remains to be seen how the other boards react. Their decision will be based on whether they have any international assignments lined up during the period when the IPL resumes. Here’s a lowdown of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) in September 2021 for each of the seven countries that have players participating in the IPL:

England: Scheduled to feature in limited-overs series in Bangladesh before flying to Pakistan for a T20I series.

Players in IPL: Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jason Roy

New Zealand: They will be playing 3ODIs and 3T20s against Pakistan in the UAE.

Players in IPL: Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Adam Milne, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Seifert, Finn Allen

Australia: They have a window open in September. However, they will host Sri Lanka for a 3-match T20I series prior to the T20 World Cup in October.

Players in IPL: Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, David Warner, Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dan Christian, Kane Richardson, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, Ben Cutting, Daniel Sams, Jason Behrendorff

West Indies: Like Australia, they also have their international window open in September.

Players in IPL: Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Shimron Hetmeyer, Fabian Allen

South Africa: The Proteas are scheduled to tour India for a 3-match ODI and a 3-match T20I series in September.

Players in IPL: Faf Du Plessis, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, David Miller.

Bangladesh: They will be hosting England in a limited overs series.

Players in IPL: Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman

Afghanistan: To play Pakistan in a 3-match ODI series in the UAE.

Players in IPL: Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammed Nabi