Australia
Australia (Image Credit: Twitter)

Australia and England stars are all set to miss at least the first week of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). The thirteenth edition of the league will start on September 19 with UAE being the venue. The full schedule for the tournament is yet to be released and will be finalised after the meeting of the IPL Governing Council later this month.

IPL 2020 was originally scheduled to be held between March – May. However, the BCCI had to suspend the league indefinitely in the light of the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, the ICC called off this year’s T20 World Cup which paved the way for the IPL.

Australia and England players to miss start of IPL 2020:

The upcoming IPL is likely to miss some of its shine in the initial phase as Australian and English cricketers are set to miss the first few days of the action. The reason behind it is the limited-overs series between the two countries. Australia are scheduled to tour England next month for a three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The ongoing English summer will come to an end with the ODI series between the two teams. ECB are yet to officially announce the schedule but the reports suggest the final ODI will be played on September 16, three days before the IPL starts.

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IPL, IPL 2020, Closed Doors, Government
IPL Trophy. Photo by: Deepak Malik /SPORTZPICS for BCCI

The three T20Is will be played on the 4th, 6th and 8th September before three ODIs take place on the 11th, 13th and 16th. After the series, the players will straightaway head to the UAE for the IPL but are unlikely to play soon after landing.

They will immediately be tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival in the UAE. The players will be allowed to move out from the isolation zone only if they test negative and will have to follow the SOPs set by the BCCI before joining their respective teams. This entire process is expected to take 7-10 days and will delay the participation of the players in the tournament. Thus the players are effectively ruled out from playing in the first week of the IPL.

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