Wade to miss start of IPL in order to play Sheffield Shield final

Matthew Wade will miss the start of IPL 2024 with Gujarat Titans so he can play in the Sheffield Shield final for Tasmania.

Tasmania are assured of a place in the Shield decider and are very likely to host the contest in Hobart as they seek to win the title for the first time since 2012-13.

The final runs from March 21-25 so Wade may only miss the first game against Mumbai Indians on March 25 although his presence in the second game against Chennai Super Kings on March 27 could be tight. Their third game takes place on March 31 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"He's spoken with his IPL franchise and they're happy to allow him to stay here, which probably equates to him potentially missing their first game," Tasmania head coach Jeff Vaughan told reporters in Hobart.

"We feel very fortunate to have someone of Matt's ilk coming back into our group, and his experience and his performances at the back end of our season."

After 10 years with Victoria, Wade returned to Tasmania for the 2017-18 season and was part of the side that lost that season's Shield final to Queensland. He was named Player of the Match for his 108 on that occasion.

Wade was back in the Tasmania side for the last round of matches following Australia white-ball duty. He opened the batting for the first time in his Shield career having only previously done it briefly at Test level against India in 2020-21.

He made 32 and 5 against Victoria in a game Tasmania won by 57 runs early on the final day to book their place in the final. There is one more round of regular-season matches to go with Tasmania facing South Australia in Hobart.

The crunch game of the last round is between Victoria and Western Australia in Melbourne which will decide who faces Tasmania in the final. Scott Boland is expected to be released from the Test squad in New Zealand to play for Victoria.