New Zealand players cleared for IPL

Auckland, Aug 10 (PTI): New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, pacers Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson will skip the Pakistan white-ball series slated to be played in September this year.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive David White has confirmed that Kiwi players involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 would be allowed to re-join their franchises and complete the competition when it re-starts in September.
While the first-choice New Zealand team led by Kane Williamson will tour India after the T20 World Cup, Tom Latham will captain a second string side to Bangladesh and Pakistan in September-October as it coincides with the suspended IPL resuming from September 19.
Most of the New Zealand players picked for the T20 World Cup will get to play in the preceding IPL, which will serve as good preparation for the showpiece event in the UAE.
Both IPL and T20 World Cup have been moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic but BCCI still remains the host of the ICC event.
Senior batsman Ross Taylor was picked for the three ODIs in Pakistan but then it was mutually agreed that he would remain at home to prepared for the Test tour of India. New Zealand will tour Pakistan after 18 years.
“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, with “player welfare and support now one of professional sport’s biggest challenges, particularly in the current pandemic environment”.
“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 the star New Zealand 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.”
The premier T20 tournament had to be suspended in May with COVID-19 raging through India at that time and multiple cases were also reported in the tournament’s bio-bubble.