England men's director of cricket, Ashley Giles has confirmed that England stars in the IPL such as Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran are likely to unavailable for the second half of the IPL if at all it is played at sometime later this year.
Reportedly, the BCCI is exploring a window in September-October this year to complete the 14th edition of the league that was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak in biosecure bubbles of various teams.
England are scheduled to tour Pakistan and Bangladesh in September-October and Giles said that he expects to send a full-strength squad on those tours.
"We're planning on the involvement of England players in England matches. We've got a full FTP schedule. So if those tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh are going ahead, I'd expect the players to be there,” Giles said.
Giles also cited uncertainty around the second half of the IPL and lamented a highly busy schedule starting the series against New Zealand that will also include the T20 World Cup and the Ashes at the end of the year behind England players’ unavailability in the IPL.
"None of us knows what a rearranged IPL looks like at the moment; where it's going to be or when. But from when we start this summer against New Zealand, our programme is incredibly busy. We've got a lot of important, high-profile cricket including the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. And we're going to have to look after our players."
ECB management including Giles himself attracted severe criticism for allowing players such as Buttler, Stokes and others to play the full season of the IPL at the cost of missing New Zealand Tests. However, Gilles said that the series against players were given NOCs for participation in the full season of the IPL way before the series against the Blackcaps was finalised by the ECB.
"The New Zealand scenario was very different. Those Test matches were formalised at the end of January, by which time all those contracts and NOCs were signed for full involvement in the IPL,” Giles added.
England will host a full-strength New Zealand side for two-match Test series starting June 02 at the Lord’s.