Cricket Australia leaves it to Australian players to decide on IPL 2020 participation

With the coronavirus situation getting intense with each passing day, the fate of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is facing uncertainty. Especially, with the Government of India deciding to suspend visas to all foreign nationals, barring a few categories till April 15, the situation has become even more complicated since the IPL features a lot of overseas players who the franchises buy at high costs in auctions. The IPL Governing Council is set to meet on Saturday to discuss the viability of hosting the tournament amid the COVID-19 scare.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) has left it to its players and their respective franchises at this point to take the final call on their participation in the annual T20 carnival. The 13th edition of the IPL is set to kick off on March 29 with a game between the finalists of the last year — Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings — at the Wankhede Stadium.

“The IPL is not affiliated with CA as a separate competition featuring individual Australian players, whose contracts are directly with their franchises,” a report in Sportstar quoted a communications manager with CA as saying.

“From a CA perspective, we continue to monitor the situation, particularly looking at the advice provided by DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and other relevant government agencies, including the Australian Institute of Sport, which has outlined a coordinated approach for all Australian sports.”

Cummins, Maxwell – a lot of big Australian names in fray this year

A number of frontline Australian cricketers were set to take part in the IPL 2020 with pacer Pat Cummins being the most prominent among them. The No.1 bowler in Tests was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the last auction for Rs 15.5 crore — making him the most expensive overseas player this season.

Besides, Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Mumbai) are other important Australian names featuring in this year’s IPL. There are in all 13 Australian players in the fray and their non-participation could leave the tournament pale.

According to a long-time manager of a leading cricketer from Down Under, it would be ‘premature’ to comment on the Kangaroos’ availability.

“We aren’t in a position to comment at this stage particularly given we’ve not received any advice from India/IPL team. Cricket Australia has not made any comment in relation to this. I think it’s too early,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Indian government’s directive has said: “All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International Organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure.”

Australia has so far over 150 confirmed cases of coronavirus while in India, it is 73.