The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is expected to ask the English players to pull out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 towards the business end of the tournament for taking part in the three-match Test series against New Zealand at home out of the later stages of IPL 2022 in order to give them some time to prepare for the series which kicks off the home summer.
Twenty-two English cricketers will be going under the game in the IPL 2022 mega auction, including several who have been in England’s recent Test plans. Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Craig Overton, Sam Billings, and Dan Lawrence were all part of the Ashes squad and are currently on the auction list.
Jos Buttler, who was also in Australia, has already been retained by Rajasthan Royals (RR) although Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Chris Woakes have already ruled themselves out.
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Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said English cricket needed to go through a reset in Test cricket in order to try and improve the fortunes of the faltering Test team. In order to keep the players ready for the red-ball challenge, ECB is ready to cut short their players’ sojourn in the IPL 2022.
ECB seems to have notified the franchises that the England players will not be taking part in the IPL 2022 playoffs. The opening Test against New Zealand is scheduled to be commencing on June 2 at Lord’s and although the dates for the IPL 2022 have yet to be officially confirmed, it is likely that the tournament will run from March 27 until late May, just a few days before the first Test begins.
In case the England players will be taking part in the entire IPL 2022 season, they are certain to miss the Lord’s Test and will certainly not have enough time to switch from T20 to Test format.
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There is yet to be any formal communication to be given to England’s players or the IPL teams about their availability. But according to the reports of Cricbuzz, IPL franchises have been notified by the ECB that they should be ready to lose England players before the conclusion of the IPL 2022 in order for them to prepare for the New Zealand Test series at home.
