Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
While a major hurdle to conduct the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the availability of overseas players, there is some good news coming in for the Board and the franchises. It is now being learned that Cricket Australia does not have any issue in sending its players to participate in the IPL prior to the T20 World Cup. Notably, the board has almost sealed the September-October window to conduct the tournament after which the T20 World Cup will begin.
Hence, Cricket Australia (CA) is viewing the IPL as a perfect platform for some of the players to prepare for the T20 World Cup. Such a consideration is particularly significant because earlier England and Wales Cricket Board Managing Director Ashley Giles had clearly refused to send the English players to participate in the Indian Premier League.
England not making any changes to accommodate IPL: Giles
"I'm not aware of anything official, any requests to shift anything," Giles said at the launch of IG as the new official partner of England Cricket.
"As far as we're concerned and what we're prepared for, the matches will be where they are. I'm not surprised there's all sorts of speculation. Everyone wants to get their cricket in. But we've not received anything official and we're cracking on," he added.
He further said that while some of the players may be rested for their international assignments it "wouldn't be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere."