IPL 2021: New Zealand cricketers to be available for UAE leg, confirms NZC chief

The second leg of the Indian Premier League is all set to commence from September 19 in the UAE. The participation of many players is doubtful ahead of the marquee event owing to the Covid-19 protocols, national duties, rest concerns, and the preparation of the T20 World Cup. However, what comes as a sigh of relief for the franchises is that the New Zealand players will now be available for the remainder of the IPL 2021.

New Zealand is expected to tour Pakistan in the September-October window which had made their participation in the IPL doubtful. Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson are some of the key names that stand important for their respective franchises and thus this news would iron out a lot of concerns for the teams. The New Zealand Cricket chief David White confirmed the participation of the New Zealand players despite their white-ball series against Pakistan during the same window.

“New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, James Neesham, and Lockie Ferguson will feature in the second phase of the IPL 2021 in the UAE instead of the Pakistan series,” David White was quoted by GeoTV.

Availability of the New Zealand Players comes as great news for the IPL franchises

With the T20 World Cup to be held from October 17, England and Bangladesh had stated that their players won’t be a part of the IPL 2021. There are speculations about Australia planning to pull out their players as well. This is a huge concern for the franchises as they have to put their thinking hats on for the replacements of these players.

It is learned that last month the New Zealand players had expressed interest in playing in the IPL as a preparation for the T20 World Cup. This interest had come with the fact that the venues for both the events would be the same and that would be a great opportunity for the players to judge the conditions well for the ICC event.

Now that Kiwis are available for the remainder of the IPL, some of the franchises would have been relaxed over the missing out of some crucial names from the side. The IPL is all set to resume from September 19 with Mumbai Indians locking horns against their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in the first match at the UAE.