It wasn’t long ago when the BCCI has confirmed that the English cricketers will finally be available to play on the second part of the Indian Premier League at the UAE this coming September. Both the availability of the English and Australian players has been confirmed by IPL COO Hemang Amin.
This means that more players will be available in phase two of the IPL VIVO 2021 season and will be part of the lineups that people are looking forward to watching and wagering on websites like 10CRIC.com. Players like Eoin Morgan and David Warner should be available to play.
While the BCCI has already confirmed that these players will be available until the IPL finals, it will still be up to the players to decide on joining the matches from September to October. So far, players like Pat Cummins have already expressed that they will not be joining the rest of his team in the UAE.
Cummins said in a video on his YouTube channel, “Unfortunately, at this stage, I probably won’t be going to the IPL. I haven’t made an official call on it. But my partner is pregnant and our baby is due in the middle of the IPL. At the moment, there is a travel restriction getting back to Australia, you got to do 2 weeks quarantine.”
He also added, “There is probably going to be some days quarantine going to UAE. So, for the second half this season it’s going to be tough to get over there.”
Former Australian Cricket Captain Ricky Ponting Said IPL Participation of the Team is Ideal
The batting legend of the Australian team, Ricky Ponting, is backing Australian players to be a part of the upcoming IPL continuation. According to him, it would be an ideal preparation ahead for the T20 World Cup which will happen right after the IPL in October.
Ponting talked to captain Tim Paine on SEN radio about how the team needs to get back on track. He said, “Those guys haven’t played for three of four months now. They need to get back into the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the best players in the world. No doubt, it’s their best preparation to be in those exact conditions – playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world.
“I’m not saying it just because I want some of the Australian players there with Delhi, but it sounds like our domestic season will be pushed back so they’ll be no domestic cricket here before the T20 World Cup, so preparation wise it’s spot on.
“Not sure if they’ll be any restrictions on the bowlers going there, there may well be, but certainly the guys like Smith, Davey, Maxi, Stoinis who have been out of cricket for three or fourth months they need to get back into the groove.”
Ponting expressed how more work is needed to be done by the team with the poor T20 results of the recent tours of West Indies and Bangladesh. He said, “The lack of know-how and skill in those conditions brought us undone again.
“It’s been the Achilles heel for Australian cricket for as long as I can remember – more so in Test cricket, but we’ve always found a way to be very competitive in Sri Lanka and India in white-ball cricket. Just goes to show the depth around Australian cricket is not where it needs to be so there’s some work to do there.
“The T20 World Cup is not far away so hopefully we get all the boys fit and healthy because I still think with everyone fit and healthy in the UAE that the Australian team can push hard to win the title. Let’s keep our fingers crossed we can put our strongest XI on the field.”
Ponting is also going to the UAE as the head coach of Delhi Capitals for the IPL. He is hoping that the Australian players play well on the IPL but he was also saying all this because he wants more Australian players for Delhi Capitals. He said, “I’m not just saying it because I want some of the Australian players there at the Delhi Capitals, I genuinely feel Australian cricketers can get their groove back by playing IPL.”
The IPL phase 2 will start on September 19 and will end on October 15. Two days later, on October 17, will be the start of the T20 World Cup. The said tournament will also be held in the UAE and is scheduled to end on November 14, 2021.