'100% incorrect information' - Niall O'Brien says Reece Topley can't reject IPL offer

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are currently looking for a replacement for Josh Hazlewood who recently pulled out of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise had approached Billy Stanlake and Reece Topley to take part in the league, however, reportedly, both of them rejected the offer due to the rising COVID-19 cases in India.

India is experiencing the second wave of the pandemic currently with almost 90,000 new cases being registered in the last 24 hours. Moreover, Axar Patel and Devdutt Padikkal have been tested positive for the virus while Nitish Rana has just recovered. Meanwhile, former Ireland cricketer and the current commentator Niall O’Brien reckons the information regarding Reece Topley is completely incorrect.

According to him, the left-arm seamer from England was always willing to play in the IPL, the biggest T20 tournament and he can never reject the offer. He also mentioned that he can’t confirm the same about Billy Stanlake but Niall O’Brien was confident about Topley not rejecting the IPL offer.

It remains to be seen if Reece Topley will clarify the reason for turning down the IPL offer or if he has actually rejected the offer.

Good morning , I can’t speak for B.S but I can confirm that information is 100% incorrect in Reece Case. RT was hoping to play IPL 👍 https://t.co/XceYNEkRFF

— Niall John O Brien (@niallnobiobrien) April 4, 2021

Reece Topley played in the recent ODI series against India

England seamer Reece Topley’s career has been marred with injuries having played his first ODI back in 2015. After a four-year layoff due to injury, he finally made a comeback in the 50-over format in August last year against Ireland. It took another seven months for Topley to play his next ODI and it came against India in a recently concluded three-match series.

He picked three wickets in the last two ODIs of the series and fared well in high-scoring contests. Overall, the left-arm pacer has played 13 ODIs and 6 T20Is for England picking 20 and 5 wickets respectively, and this time around, he will be hoping for a longer and injury-free stay with the national team. In domestic cricket, the 27-year-old has picked up 346 wickets across all formats featuring in 179 matches so far in his career.