IPL 2020: Teams fret over the availability of Sri Lanka, South Africa players

Friday, 31 July 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BENGALURU: The IPL 2020 is expected to be held in UAE from 19 September to 8 November and the Governing Council is set to meet soon and prepare a blue-print for the smooth shifting and conduct of the tournament.

A clear path is yet to be evolved but it has been learnt that some of the franchises like Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore will face immense challenge to make available the Sri Lankan and South African players.

Sri Lanka have three representatives in IPL 2020. Pacer Lasith Malinga plays for Mumbai Indians and the team is coached by for former Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, while Royal Challengers had signed pacer Isuru Udana for the season.

But the announcement of the Lankan Premier League T20 is likely to at least delay their arrival for the IPL 2020. The inaugural Lankan Premier League is set to be played between 20 August and 20 September and the IPL is expected to start on 18 September.

The Sri Lanka Cricket officials have made it amply clear that none of their players will be allowed to leave the tournament mid-way to play in another league including the IPL 2020. The announcement of Lankan league has also put the Caribbean Premier League (CPL 2020) in a quandry as four Lankan players are likely to miss the event.

The CPL 2020 is set to be played between 18 August and 10 September in Trinidad behind closed doors. Dasun Shanaka, Avishka Fernando, Wanidu Hasaranga and Bhanuka Rajapaksa had applied for SLC permission to play in the league.

In that context, they are almost certain to miss the CPL 2020 and those participate in the IPL 2020 will at least have to do with delayed arrival. Malinga is expected to play in the Lankan league and Jaywardene, though no formal announcement has been made, is slated to coach one of the five teams.

The South African players too face a similar dilemma. There are 10 Proteas players contracted with various IPL teams: AB De Villiers, Chris Morris and Dale Steyn (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Kagiso Rabada (Delhi Capitals), Quinton De Kock (Mumbai Indians), Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings), Hardus Viljoen (KingsXI Punjab) and David Miller (Rajasthan Royals).

But as of now South Africa have closed their borders owing to the Coronavirus pandemic and travel in and out of the country is permitted only for emergency services like medical and cargo needs.

South Africa have more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases with 6,300 causalities.

Of course, the protocols can change in the time to come but the IPL teams will already be making a deep thinking about it. (Source: https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/ipl-2020-teams-fret-over-the-availability-of-sri-lanka-south-africa-players-148441.html)