No England players at IPL 2021, confirms Ashley Giles

If one goes by the words of the former England cricketer and ECB’s managing director, Ashley Giles, we might have seen the last of English cricketers in IPL 2021. Giles made it clear that they are not going to make any changes to accommodate IPL 2021, neither by altering the schedule of their Test series against India or making their players available for the second half of the competition. 

While Giles admitted that several England players will be rested from the tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh, he also said that none of them will be allowed to play cricket elsewhere in that window. This is expected to be the same period during which the remaining 31 games of IPL 2021 will be played, hence, shutting the door on the availability of England players. 

"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”, said Giles at the launch of IG as the new official partner of England Cricket.

He further explained himself, "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."

England is supposed to fly to Bangladesh within a week after the end of the five-match Test series against India, which completes on 14th September with the last Test. They will then go to Pakistan for two T20Is. The BCCI is currently eyeing September 19 or 20 to resume the unfinished IPL season. 

Giles asserted that the ECB are not thinking about preponing the Test series against India to accommodate a larger window for IPL 2021 to take place. He in fact confirmed that the ECB have not received any formal request from BCCI. 

"I'm not aware of anything official, any requests to shift anything," said Giles. "As far as we're concerned and what we're prepared for, the matches will be where they are. I'm not surprised there's all sorts of speculation. Everyone wants to get their cricket in. But we've not received anything official and we're cracking on.

"We have a full schedule. If we go from the end of the fifth Test in September, we are set to leave for Bangladesh on September 19 or 20. We have a full schedule right through including Pakistan and wherever the T20 World Cup is.”

Another former England cricketer and Giles’ teammate, Mark Butcher sees this as a missed opportunity by the ECB to act per BCCI’s request and exercise the leverage to get top Indian players for its 'Hundred' tournament.