Reports: Australia's IPL bound players might get to leave Pakistan tour early

The IPL 2022 is likely to commence from the last week of March and is scheduled to run till May end.  The 15th edition of the marquee tournament will be a 10-team affair including the likes of two new franchises- Lucknow and Ahmedabad and as of now will entirely be played in India behind closed doors.

The IPL will coincide with Australia’s all-format bilateral series against Pakistan and Australian national selector George Bailey has mentioned that the IPL bound players will be allowed to go home in the middle of the series before flying to India to participate in the mega event.

“Absolutely it’s tough for the multi-format guys to work out that balance of where they do get time to physically replenish their energy reserves. Particularly for fast bowlers [around] when they get the time to make sure that they fit and strong and able to deal with the workload. But that’s part and parcel of the modern cricketers’ life”, said Bailey as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

I think that’s a terrific opportunity for the players, says George Bailey

The former Australian skipper said that while the players are handsomely rewarded for being a part of the cash-rich league, they will also get to learn a lot from the best players across the globe.

“It continues to be a tournament that offers a huge amount for players both from a learning perspective and I don’t think the monetary side of things can be discounted. For a reasonably brief period of work the payday is pretty enormous for a certain percentage of them”, he said.

“But I do think more so than that is the opportunity to play with the best players around the world and to have access to a different range of coaches. I think that’s a terrific opportunity,” Bailey added.

While the Australian players holding IPL contracts will supposedly be able to play the three-match Test series from March 3 to 25, they will be giving the white-ball leg of the tour a miss. The Test series will be succeeded by as many ODIs on March 29, 31, and, April 2 respectively whereas the one-off T20I match will be played on April 5.