The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has barred their Test captain, Joe Root, from participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. Since they will be hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup followed by the Ashes, the board is not in a mood to risk the fitness of its marquee cricketer for both the important tournaments.
According to a Daily Mail report, the ECB is concreted about managing the workload of their players ahead of a crucial cricketing season in 2019. Hence, Root’s name will not be included in the IPL 2019 auctions.
The English Test skipper has been struggling with his form in the shortest format of the game. He remained unsold in the IPL 2018 auctions and was dropped from the playing XI for the third and deciding T20I against India recently.
However, Root locked the deal with Sydney Thunder on Friday for the upcoming season of the Big Bash League (BBL). Since the tournament will commence by the end of this year, the board has allowed him to feature in the Australian T20 League before heading for the tour of West Indies.
Root has played 28 T20Is for England so far and scored 787 runs at a decent strike rate of 128.59. He featured in the first two games against India and scored on 9 runs (0 & 9). India won the 3-match T20I rubber 2-1.