Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The IPL 2022 is just a few months away and while there is a lot of excitement among the fans around it, there is already so much uncertainty as well. Although it is confirmed that it will be a 10-team tournament, there is no clarity yet if the tournament will be conducted in India, UAE or some other country.
While BCCI still have time to figure that out, the biggest issue right now is regarding the availability of players for the season. The board has extended the timeline for players to register themselves for mega auctions to January 20 which certainly hints towards the fact that there was a possible lack of participation.
Joe Root recently confirmed that he won't be taking part in the upcoming season of IPL as he wants to keep hos focus on red-ball cricket. Reflecting on the reason behind his decision to not submit his name for auctions, he said, "There's a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy. I'll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be."
Ben Stokes might follow footsteps of Joe Root
After it was earlier reported that England & Wales Cricket Board could prevent players from participating in IPL because of their disappointing performance down under, it looks like Ben Stokes is also following the footsteps of his skipper because of a similar reason.
According to a report by Daily Mail, Ben Stokes is also likely to skip the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League in order to put his entire focus on helping England bounce back in Test cricket following a heavy 0-4 defeat at the hands of Australia in Ashes 2021-22.
It must be noted that the English star all-rounder had been ruled out of the previous season of IPL after sustaining an injury on his left index finger in the initial stages of the tournament. Following that, the 30-year-old was also out of action for a few months after undertaking a mental health break.
Apart from Stokes and Root, it is being reported that Mitchell Starc might once again miss the cash-rich league despite showing his interest in taking part a few days back. The left-arm pacer, along with Pat Cummins, is still mulling over whether to submit the names for mega auctions or not.