CA chief selector expects players to prioritize national duties in place of IPL

Trevor Hohns, Australia chairman of selectors, has hinted that the Aussie cricketers will be asked to give first preference to national duties in place of the IPL, which will start mid-September in the UAE.

As per reports, Cricket Australia (CA) is planning to organise a T20I tri-series with West Indies and Afghanistan in order to prepare for the T20 World Cup. which will be held in October-November in India.

The tri-series would be held after the white-ball series against West Indies and Bangladesh, for which an 18-member squad was announced on Wednesday.

If the tri-series go ahead as being planned, it might potentially clash with the final phase of the cash-rich IPL.

Coomenting in this regard, Hohns said: “Around that time of the year, I would certainly hope so (that players forego the IPL for national representation).”

“However, it will certainly depend on their commitments and what we think they should be committing to regarding their Australian commitments at that time,” he was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au

The chief selector, however, also added that the matter will be addressed in the future.

“We haven’t looked at that yet and we haven’t heard from our players at this stage,” Hohns said beside hinting that there is no guarantee that some of the IPL returnees, who have opted out of the squad for the white-ball tours of West Indies and Bangladesh, would get a direct entry in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad.

“That will be an interesting discussion for us, there’s no doubt about that, depending on performances in the West Indies particularly by some of the extra inclusions for this tour,” Hohns said.

“If somebody were to really shoot the lights out with the bat or the ball, we’d have to stand up and take notice,” he added.

Notably, seven cricketers — David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams and Steve Smith have pulled out of the upcoming tours. While the former six had sought rest after spending a long time in bio-bubble in past few months, Smith was recovering from an elbow injury.

He said it would have been ideal to have all the players together and play as a group and a squad (ahead of the World Cup).

“We’re obviously disappointed they made themselves unavailable for this tour, but quite frankly we totally understand and respect their decisions,” Hohns said on the unavailibitlity of these players for Windies and Bangladesh tours.

News Desk

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