Pat Cummins will reportedly not be available for the Kolkata Knight Riders when the IPL 2021 resumes as international player availability becomes an issue.
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The BCCI Special General Meeting decided that IPL 2021 will be played in the UAE. Although the final dates for the resumption has not been announced, IPL 2021 could take place from September 20 with the final on October 10. However, this is also going to cause a serious issue when it comes to international player availability. Now, one Australian pacer might reportedly not comeback for IPL 2021 whenever it resumes. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Pat Cummins has reportedly stated that he will not be part of IPL 2021 resumption.
The report stated, “David Warner and Pat Cummins might be rested from the West Indies tour because of family reasons. Others could follow after a draining year in several bubbles. Cummins, despite a multimillion-dollar IPL contract, has already said he will not return to the T20 tournament this season.”
With Cummins reportedly stating that he may not be part of IPL 2021, the issue of player availability becomes massive. During the period of August to September, the Caribbean Premier League will also take place. The issue of quarantine and bio-bubbles will be a major hassle.
England has already made it clear that they want to honor their bilateral tours to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Ashley Giles, the managing director of the men’s team, told ESPNCricinfo he players who are rested for the tours cannot mean they can play the IPL.
“We are going to have to give some of these guys a break at some point. But the intention of giving guys a break for, say, Bangladesh, wouldn’t be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere. We have to manage our schedule now. So, we get our guys arriving in the best shape possible for the T20 World Cup and the Ashes,” Giles said.
England also have a tight schedule. After the ICC World T20, they will embark on a five-Test Ashes series Down Under. England have not won a Test match there since 2011.
The BCCI had informally told the ECB to try and reschedule the Tests in order to have a bigger IPL window. But, England refused. Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were the first players to test positive for COVID-19. Following that, Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra also tested positive along with Chennai Super Kings staff. This led to the postponement of the tournament after 29 matches.
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