Andre Russell, Faf du Plessis and three other overseas players pull out of LPL 2020

The Lanka Premier League is set to start on November 21 and will continue its run till December 13. In the latest turn of developments, five foreign players, including Andre Russell, Faf du Plessis, and David Miller, have pulled out from the league. They have withdrawn from their respective franchises within a week they were drafted in it. Miller, Du Plessis, and David Malan have shown their unavailability due to limited over series between South Africa and England.

The series between South Africa and the English team is set to kick off from November 27, where it will be interesting to see how the Proteas team manages things amid their ongoing crisis. Andre Russell has decided to quit the league due to injury concerns as per Lanka cricket. The fifth player who has quit the tournament is Manvinder Bisla, who has failed to provide any reasons.

“The franchises that had these players will have to negotiate with other players to take their place,” LPL director Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo.

Russell, Malan, Du Plessis were all selected as marquee players which means that franchisees won’t be bounded by the constraints of draft payment if they lookout for new players. It was already assumed that players from South Africa and England would pull out from the tournament when the dates of their series would be finalized. However, Russell’s exit has come as a surprise for Lankan authorities. Though Russell has not appeared in the KKR team post SRH game, he has not even been ruled out of IPL 2020 due to a knee injury.

Andre Russell is down with a knee injury

There are no current updates on his injury, but it has been cited that it is the reason for his exit from LPL. These withdrawals have jolted the franchises, but they will still go on with their best efforts. Colombo Kings will suffer the hardest as they had all three, Du Plessis, Bisla, and Russell in their roster. The Jaffna Stallions had Miller. Though there are less than four weeks for the tournament to flag off, there are great hurdles before the league can finally be brought on the ground.