Moeen Ali rested for Windies T20Is ahead of IPL, Sam Curran named replacement

England are bracing up for one of their most important summers in recent years and are making sure that their main players remain fit and sound for the gruelling season. England will host this year’s World Cup, where they are one of the favourites to win the title, before they take on arch-rivals Australia in the all-important Ashes. Keeping in mind the busy schedule ahead, the England team-management has now rested Moeen Ali for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Windies.

Prior to Moeen, England had already allowed Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes to miss the T20I series in order to take rest. The trio has been granted rest because of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Buttler and Stokes will play for Rajasthan Royals this year while Moeen, who made his IPL debut last year, will ply his trade for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The trio will take rest for a couple of weeks before joining up with their Indian Premier League franchises.

Moeen has been replaced by allrounder Sam Curran. The left-arm allrounder will also play in the IPL but since he is not a regular part of the squads across formats, the England selectors have drafted him in the squad. Curran, who will play for Kings XI Punjab this season, has played nine Tests and two ODIs for England but is yet to be capped in the shortest format.

Moeen, meanwhile, had managed to make a mark in his maiden season of the IPL. After warming the bench for the early part of the season, he played 5 games. The left-handed batsman scored a fifty in one of those games in addition to picking up three wickets. The five-match ODI series will end on March 2. The series is currently locked at 1-1 after the third match was completely washed out. The three-match T20I series will start on March 5.

IPL schedule

The twelfth edition of the league will get underway on March 23. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening match. The BCCI has announced the schedule for only the first two weeks due to the uncertainty over the election dates. As per the current schedule, as many as 17 matches will be played from March 23 to April 5, with three double-header days on March 24, 30 and 31.

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