IPL chairman Arun Dhumal said that the T20 World Cup-bound England players leaving the IPL 2024 before the playoffs was a change in personnel in the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Notably, many England players left their respective IPL franchises to join the national squad for the upcoming T20I series at home against Pakistan, starting May 22 as well.
Speaking to Sportstar, Arun Dhumal confirmed that there was a commitment given that the England players would be available throughout the IPL season but a change at the ECB led to this unfortunate circumstances as well.
“It was given as a commitment that they will be available for the entire tournament. It was indeed very unfortunate with the way things happened this time around. We have had good discussions with the ECB and hopefully, it won’t happen again in the future. A few people who had earlier committed to this aren’t with the ECB now, but ideally, even if there was a change of guard, things should have happened the way it was planned,” said Dhumal. “Unfortunately, there was some change of guard at the ECB and so, the new people who took over did not know about the bilateral series they had planned, and they wanted to put their best team there. Due to that, the confusion arose.”
Meanwhile, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar even called for penalties for players leaving the IPL 2024 midway through the season. While several England players have left the IPL in the past week or two, 3 of the 4 playoff teams have suffered a lot.
“We have always discussed with all the boards regarding the player availability and in case a player needs to go back due to genuine reasons, we definitely allow that. They have been quite cooperative so far, so all the players and the Board are aligned with the success of this tournament and love being part of the IPL. We are also very thankful to the other Boards who have been equal partners in this IPL. Everyone understands their responsibilities. I don’t think apart from minor hiccups, there’s anything to worry about,” concluded Arun Dhumal.
