Top Australian Stars To Miss Start Of IPL 2022 Despite Skipping ODI Series Against Pakistan: Report

Official schedule of IPL 2022 is yet to be announced by the BCCI but several media reports suggest that the lucrative T20 league will begin in the last week of March.

Australian cricket team, Pic Courtesy: AFP

New Delhi: The Australian cricket team is set to create history next month as the yellow army will tour Pakistan after a gap of 24 long years. Australia has not played an international series on Pakistani soil since 1998. The Men in Green have been hosting Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the last few years. On Tuesday, Cricket Australia announced a 16-member team for the three-match ODI and one-match T20 series to be played against Pakistan.

A report by Cricbuzz had stated that some Australian players who have been acquired by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises to play in the T20 tournament in India, might skip the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan.

Names of star Aussie players David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell are not included in this team. These players should have joined their IPL franchise as they aren't part of Australia's limited-overs squad, but this is not going to happen and they will miss the start of IPL 2022, PTI reported.

Official schedule of IPL 2022 is yet to be announced by the BCCI but several media reports suggest that the lucrative T20 league will begin in the last week of March.

This year's IPL schedule is set to coincide with Australia's tour to Pakistan as the two teams will play 3 ODIs and a T20I from March 29 to April 5.

Australia's selection committee chief George Bailey made it clear on Tuesday that the Aussie players who have an IPL contract won't be able to link up with their IPL teams before April 5, PTI reported. Cricket Australia (CA) prohibits Aussie cricketers with central contracts to play in franchise leagues when the national team is playing.

"I fully respect the IPL as a tournament. I think they're at the forefront of the T20 game," Bailey was quoted a saying by cricket.com.au.

"I think it's been a really important tournament for the skill development of some of our players, so it's important not to underestimate that going forward," he said.

Bailey added that "the protocols that would dictate no centrally contracted Australia player was available to join an IPL team until April 6 were being finalised by CA's Executive General Manager High Performance and National Teams, Ben Oliver."

13 Australian players are part of different teams of IPL. The only players who currently are not bound by CA contracts (available from the start of the tournament) are Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim David.