Australia chief selector expects players to skip IPL 2021 if it clashes with T20I Tri-series

Tri-series involving West Indies and Afghanistan likely to clash with the resumption of the IPL 2021.

Pat Cummins is among the Australian cricketers who feature in the IPL.

Australia chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns on Wednesday said he expects the country’s IPL players to forgo the high-profile T20 league starting mid-September if a tri-series involving West Indies and Afghanistan is scheduled at the same time.

In addition to the white-ball series against West Indies and Bangladesh, for which a 18-member squad was announced on Wednesday, Australia is hoping to finalise a T20 tri-series with West Indies and Afghanistan just before the T20 World Cup which will be held in October-November.

Should that tri-series go ahead, it might potentially clash with the final phase of the IPL which is expected to resume in the UAE from mid-September, and Hohns made it clear where Cricket Australia expected players’ priority to lie.

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“Around that time of the year, I would certainly hope so (that players forego the IPL for national representation),” Hohns was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au .

“However, it will certainly depend on their commitments and what we think they should be committing to regarding their Australian commitments at that time.” Hohns, however, added that the matter “would have to be addressed in the future”.

“We haven’t looked at that yet and we haven’t heard from our players at this stage,” he said.

Hohns also hinted that there is no guarantee that some of the IPL returnees who have opted out of the squad for the white-ball tours of West Indies and Bangladesh would get an automatic spot in the T20 World Cup.

Seven cricketers —David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams —who recently played in the IPL have pulled out of the twin tours while Steve Smith has been rested to fully recover from an elbow complaint which flared during the IPL.