IPL 2021: Kevin Pietersen advises cricket boards not to schedule international matches during the IPL

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has said that international boards should not schedule any of their matches during the IPL season. He also called the lucrative league the biggest show in town. The former batsman has been a long advocate of the IPL and is someone who has had a close association with it in the past. 

The IPL 2021 is scheduled to begin on April 9 and most of the boards have decided either to finish their series right before the IPL or just not play any international cricket during this time. Bangladesh recently finished their tour of New Zealand, whose cricketing body hasn’t scheduled any series for now. Bangladesh though will play Sri Lanka later this month.

On Friday, when Kevin Pietersen tweeted from his official account, South Africa was playing the first ODI against Pakistan in Centurion. It was the first of three matches to be played before the two teams meet again in the shortest format, T20Is. Pietersen posted a tweet in which he made a statement that no boards should have series during the IPL. 

Cricket boards need to realize that the IPL is the biggest show in town: Kevin Pietersen 

“Cricket boards need to realise that the @IPL is the biggest show in town. DO NOT schedule ANY international games whilst it’s on. V v v simple!,” the former English batter tweeted. Apart from India, England, Australia, New Zealand and West Indies have decided not to schedule any series in the middle of the IPL. 

Cricket boards need to realise that the @IPL is the biggest show in town.

DO NOT schedule ANY international games whilst it’s on.

V v v simple!

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) April 2, 2021

While South Africa has decided to release their star players who will play in the IPL after the ODI series against Pakistan, New Zealand also decided to rest all their IPL-bound players recently for the T20I series against Bangladesh. Australia and England have almost stopped scheduling series during this time of the year, to make their players available for the cash-rich league. 

Bangladesh recently had a controversy when their star all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan decided to opt out from the Test series in Sri Lanka, in order to play the IPL. This created the whole ‘IPL vs Country’ debate. Cricket Boards of countries like England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa always avoid scheduling international matches during the IPL season. 

Watch Ben McDermott’s rapid-fire: