Following the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) update on Monday to restart the IPL 2025 season with a rejigged schedule after the tournament was indefinitely postponed last week due to the India-Pakistan conflicts, Cricket Australia (CA) has stated that they will back their players should they choose not to return for the remainder of the season.
With 17 matches to be played across 17 days starting Thursday, the BCCI announced that the final has been moved out to June 3 from the original schedule slated for a May 25 finish. This means that the Playoffs schedule will clash with a couple of international fixtures and leave the Australian and South African players featuring in the next stage of the season less than a week for preparation for the ICC World Test Championship, to be held at Lord’s from June 11-15.
“Following the announcement that the will resume on Saturday, Cricket Australia will support players in their individual decisions whether to return to India or not.
“Team management will work through the preparation implications for the World Test Championship Final for those players who choose to play in the remaining IPL matches. We are maintaining communication with the Australian Government and BCCI around security arrangements and safety,” a CA spokesperson added.
Fifteen Australian players are currently spread across the 10 franchises in the tournament, five of whom are listed in Australia’s WTC final squad unveiled on Tuesday.
While Test captain Pat Cummins and Travis Head are out of contention to feature in the Playoffs, the duo will have to deliberate about their return to feature in the remainder of the league-stage matches. However, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Josh Inglis are in the running to make the Playoffs with their respective sides while also being integral members of Australia’s Test squad for the WTC summit clash.
Marcus Stonis, , Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Aaron Hardie, Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Tim David and Jake Fraser-McGurk are the Aussie players part of the ongoing edition.
