Arun Dhumal, the IPL chairman, has stated that the incident of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recalling its players early from the IPL 2024 was very unfortunate and the IPL will ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen again.
The England and Wales Cricket Board recalled their players due to national responsibilities, as they prepare to meet Pakistan in a four-match T20I series. The best England players, including Jos Buttler, Will Jacks, Phil Salt, and Reece Topley, will miss the playoffs for their respective teams. They received criticism for leaving the event early from former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan.
Arun Dhumal said that the ECB promised the BCCI that the English players would be available for the full competition, but a change in management altered the arrangements at the last minute.
“It was given as a commitment that they will be available for the entire tournament. It was indeed very unfortunate with the way things happened this time around. We have had good discussions with the ECB and hopefully, it won’t happen again in the future. A few people who had earlier committed to this aren’t with the ECB now, but ideally, even if there was a change of guard, things should have happened the way it was planned,” Dhumal told Sportstar.
He stated that the change in guard created confusion between the two boards as new members of the ECB were not clear about the earlier plans.
“Unfortunately, there was some change of guard at the ECB and so, the new people who took over did not know about the bilateral series they had planned, and they wanted to put their best team there. Due to that, the confusion arose,” he added.
Franchises like KKR (Phil Salt), PBKS (Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran), RCB (Reece Topley and Will Jacks) and Rajasthan Royals (Jos Buttler) are affected a lot.
We are also very thankful to the other Boards: Arun Dhumal
Dhumal went on to say that the BCCI had regular communication with the other cricket boards concerning the players’ availability and thanked them for their ongoing support and for being equal partners in the competition.
“We have always discussed with all the boards regarding the player availability and in case a player needs to go back due to genuine reasons, we definitely allow that. They have been quite cooperative so far, so all the players and the Board are aligned with the success of this tournament and love being part of the IPL.
“We are also very thankful to the other Boards who have been equal partners in this IPL. Everyone understands their responsibilities. I don’t think apart from minor hiccups, there’s anything to worry about,” concluded Dhumal.
It remains to be seen what repercussions the foreign players face when the mega auction happens for the IPL 2025, later this year.