HIGHLIGHTS

• The 2021 IPL will be held in the UAE a month before the country hosts the T20 World Cup
• Australia cleared players from its squad for the T20 World Cup to play the IPL
• Bailey said he hopes IPL franchises pick Australia players often in the tournament.

Australia are confident that the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) will be good preparation for their players ahead of the T20 World Cup, said chairman of selectors George Bailey. Both tournaments will be played in the UAE, with the World Cup starting two days after the IPL final.

“We absolutely have full trust that the IPL will be good prep,” Bailey told reporters.

Bailey said that the Australian hierarchy hopes that the IPL franchises select their players more often in the tournament. The 2021 IPL was postponed halfway through its group stage in April due to multiple Covid-19 cases coming up with the tournament bio-bubbles in Ahmedabad and New Delhi. It will now resume on September 19 in the UAE.

“We’re throwing a bit of faith in the franchises that they will pick our players so they are getting those games, and bat and bowl them in the exact roles that we’d like them to for the Australian team, that would be also great. But I’m not sure we’ll get any say in that,” he added with wry humour.

Most of Australia’s T20 regulars have not had too much match practice over the last two months. This, coupled with the uncertainty around the country’s domestic schedule meant that the selectors had to be flexible with their selection.

“We don’t know what the domestic schedule is going to look like, so we’ve got to be flexible around what cricket guys can play. When you look through that squad, it’s an experienced T20 list so I don’t think not having played T20 cricket for a little period of time will affect them,” said Bailey.

“Like any ICC event, there will be a couple of warm-up games. And one of the advantages of taking a slightly bigger squad (of 18 players) is that you can manufacture some scenarios in centre-wicket (practices), game-like scenarios,” he said.