Australian skipper Aaron Finch said national players who have opted out of the upcoming white-ball tours to West Indies and Bangladesh would find it hard to justify their return to fulfil the commitments in the Indian Premier League 2021.
As many as seven of Australia’s IPL-bound cricketers have pulled their names out from the limited-overs assignments in July-August. The list includes Pat Cummins, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, and Steve Smith, who will miss the tours due to injury.
The IPL 2021 was brought to a halt on May 4 due to a cluster of COVID-19 positive cases in different teams’ bubbles. While the second wave of the pandemic and the extensively busy calendar threatened to ruin the tournament entirely, the BCCI has announced that it will be rescheduled and resumed in the UAE in September-October.
For Finch, it’s understandable that players would want some time off from all the stringent protocols they’ve had to do with, including extended periods in quarantine. Still, the captain indicated he’d have an issue if the break taken is to be fresh for the rest of the IPL. The West Indies and Bangladesh series are an important part of Australia’s preparations for the T20 World Cup.
“This is only my personal opinion but I think they would find it hard to justify going back and playing that second half of the IPL. Just purely based on the workload coming up with a T20 World Cup and a huge home summer.”
“It’s a tough situation that everyone has been put in, but personally I would find it hard to do that knowing how difficult it is and how challenging it is mentally, and on your family as well. “
Finch told Adam Gilchrist on a Perth radio station. “
Finch echoed the sentiments of chief selector Trevor Hohns, who had cleared that Australian players are expected to put the national duties ahead of IPL commitments with the T20 World Cup looming.
“The guys who aren’t there have probably left the door slightly ajar,”
Finch said, suggesting that the replacements will have the opportunity to own the cement for themselves in the Caribbean and Bangladesh.
