England Test Players To Miss Later Stage Of IPL 2022 To Prepare For New Zealand Home Series- Report

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is expected to pull out the England players who will be part of the three-Test series against New Zealand at home out of the later stages of IPL 2022 in order to give them some time to prepare for the series which kicks off the home summer.

Twenty-two English players have registered for the mega IPL auction, including several who have been in England’s recent Test plans. Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Craig Overton, Sam Billings, and Dan Lawrence were all part of the Ashes squad and are currently on the auction list.

Jos Buttler, who was also in Australia, has already been retained by Rajasthan Royals although Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Chris Woakes have already ruled themselves out.

Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said English cricket needed to go through a red-ball “re-set” in order to try and improve the fortunes of the faltering Test team. In order to keep the players ready for the red-ball challenge, ECB is ready to cut short their players’ sojourn in the Indian Premier League.

Franchises Notified To Be Ready To Lose England Players Before IPL 2022 Playoffs For New Zealand Series By ECB

The opening Test against New Zealand begins on June 2 at Lord’s and although the dates for the IPL 2022 have yet to be officially confirmed, it is likely that the tournament will run from March 27 until late May, just a few days before the first Test begins.

In case the England players play the entire IPL 2022 season, they are certain to miss the Lord’s Test and will certainly not have enough time to switch from T20 to Test format.

There is yet to be any formal communication to be given to England’s players or the IPL teams about their availability. But Cricbuzz has reported that several Indian Premier League franchises have been notified by the ECB that they should be ready to lose England players before the conclusion of the IPL 2022 in order for them to prepare for the New Zealand Test series at home. This might hamper the chances of England players being picked in the upcoming IPL 2022 mega auction.

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