IPL 2021 Phase 2: Earlier this month England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Managing Director Ashley Giles announced that national commitments will take precedence and England players will be unavailable for the IPL 2021 Phase 2. However, after confirming the resumption of the tournament in the September-October window following a special general meeting (SGM), BCCI is still confident that it can reach an agreement with ECB and others over players’ availability.
“We’ve got a full Future Tours Programme. If those tours (of Bangladesh and Pakistan) are going ahead, I’d expect them (players) to be there. We are going to have to give some of these guys a break at some point. But the intention of giving guys a break for, say, Bangladesh, wouldn’t be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere. We have to manage our schedule now, so we get our guys arriving in the best shape possible for the T20 World Cup and the Ashes,” Ashley Giles said.
England will tour Bangladesh and play against Pakistan for a limited-overs series during the September-October window. However, BCCI is still trying to find an amicable solution so that teams don’t get depleted and it can confirm the fixture as soon as possible. On Saturday, after the SGM confirmed IPL 2021 Phase 2 window and venue, BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal disclosed to InsideSport that the board will discuss the matters with ECB before announcing a start date.
“The dates need to be worked out. Now that the SGM has taken a call, we will work out the modalities. It has to be discussed with the ECB also,” he said.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: Last week, reports in UK media suggested that ECB refused to entertain any rejig in the five-match Test schedule. The Test series will begin on August 4 and will end on September 14 in Manchester. InsideSport has learnt that the IPL 2021 Phase 2 in the UAE will start on September 17 with the final on October 10. Team India players who will complete England Tour on September 14 with the fifth Test in Manchester will join UAE’s bio-bubble directly.
But going by Dhumal’s statement, there is still hopes for England players’ availability and a rejig in Test series fixture could still be on the cards if BCCI successfully negotiates. The same goes for other cricket boards as well. New Zealand also have bilateral commitments with Pakistan during that time while Australia will play Bangladesh in August and Cricket Australia is looking to rest players ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: BCCI is not a board that gives up on its request or demand. In the past, it had successfully negotiated its way out and the same could be seen this time. Hence, the board is also speaking to Cricket West Indies to advance the Caribbean Premier League and rejig the Pakistan series so that players could be available. CPL 2021 begins on August 28 and will go on till September 19.
“We will speak to all the boards about the availability of their players. We will also speak to Cricket West Indies, we always had a great relationship with everyone and we are confident some solution will come out in the next few days,” said one of the top BCCI officials after attending the BCCI SGM on Saturday afternoon.
IPL 2021 Phase 2: Cricket boards in a fix
– England will tour Bangladesh and Pakistan (or the UAE) for limited-overs series in Sept-Oct
– Australia will tour Bangladesh for 5-match T20I series, could host Sri Lanka
– New Zealand are set for Pakistan tour (or the UAE) and Bangladesh
– Afghanistan will play Pakistan and Ireland in T20 series around or during IPL
– West Indies players will play CPL.
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