Moeen Ali To Miss Windies T20Is To Rest Ahead Of IPL, Sam Curran Named Replacement

England have rested their allrounder Moeen Ali for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Windies. Ali will leave the team and fly back to home after the conclusion of the ongoing five-match ODI series.  England have already announced Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes will miss the T20Is too in order to take rest ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Moeen plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL while Buttler and Stokes ply their trades for Rajasthan Royals

Moeen, who finished as England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket this winter after returning to the side during the India series last summer, is an important part of England’s squads across formats.  With the World Cup and the Ashes ahead, the team-management has now decided to give the spin-bowling allrounder some much-needed rest.

Moeen Ali will be replaced by Sam Curran in the team. Curran, who has played 9 Tests and 2 ODIs so far, is yet to make his debut in the shortest format of international cricket.

The allrounder will also play in the upcoming IPL but since he was not a part of the limited-overs squad, England have called him up. Curran will play for Kings XI Punjab this season.

Meanwhile, the ongoing ODI series will end on March 2 before the T20I series gets underway on March 5.

Meanwhile, this year’s IPL will start on March 23. Earlier this month, the BCCI had released the schedule of the first two weeks of the tournament. The board released the schedule of the first 17 games while the whole schedule is still subject to the announcement of the Lok Sabha election dates.

According to the released schedule, a total of 17 matches will be played during this 2 weeks period across the 8 home venues of the respective franchises. All teams will play minimum of 4 matches with Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore playing 5 matches. Every team will play minimum of 2 home and 2 away matches with DC playing 3 home matches, while RCB will play 3 away matches.

Chennai Super Kings are the defending champions, having defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final last year.

Keeping with the rules, the reigning champions will kickstart the tournament in a mouth-watering clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on March 23. The last game of the two-week schedule will be played on April 5 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru.