The participation of New Zealand players in the remainder of the IPL 2021 has been approved by its cricket board on Tuesday as it has announced different squads for the sub-continent tour and T20 World Cup as part of its workload management in Covid times.
As per the announcement, Tom Latham will lead a second string Kiwi side to Bangladesh and Pakistan in September-October as it coincides with the suspended IPL resuming from September 19 in the UAE.
As per reports, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) board feels that its players , who have been picked for the T20 World Cup, will get a good preparation for the showpiece event in the UAE.
“The first BLACKCAPS squad will depart for Bangladesh on August 23 and the players from the Test tour to India will return home and emerge from MIQ just before Christmas,” said New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in a statement.
“While the Test squad to tour India will not be announced for another month or so, the BLACKCAPS white-ball squads will comprise a total of 32 players – including two new to the set-up in Canterbury all-rounder Cole McConchie, and Wellington paceman Ben Sears,” it added.
NZC chief executive David White said the changing times demanded changing strategies.
“The need to safeguard the well-being of our players and support staff is now very real, and we’ve endeavoured to do this by carefully managing their workloads over this winter’s massive playing programme,” said White.
On allowing its key players to participate in the IPL, he said: “It’s a pragmatic approach. We’ve always tried to be realistic about the IPL and this particular issue is very much a one-off, caused by a unique set of circumstances.”