'It's certainly not the preferred thing' - Kane Williamson opens up on missing England Test series for IPL 2021

There are chances that the two-match Test series between England and New Zealand can clash with the business end of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). England and New Zealand are scheduled to lock horns against each other in two Test matches that will run from June 2 to June 6, 2021 and June 10 to June 14, 2021 in London and Birmingham respectively.

There might not be a direct clash between the two events but the challenges imposed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and need of serving a mandatory quarantine period before taking part in the matches can result in the New Zealand and England players missing the last few games of Indian league or giving the Test series a miss.

Speaking about the same, the Black Caps skipper across all formats, Kane Williamson reckoned that it certainly is not the preferred thing to miss Test cricket for playing the franchise cricket as country comes first. However, Williamson and other players are yet to make a decision on the same as they are waiting for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to announce the dates and schedule of the marquee event.

Kane Williamson opines on missing Test series against England for playing in IPL 2021

“It’s certainly not the preferred thing. I know when plans were put in place, that wasn’t the idea then, but as we’ve seen, you can make plans in this day in age and very rarely do they go to plan. For us, it’s being able to adapt as quickly as possible, we still have to wait and see when dates are finalised to truly know what is happening before any decision is made, but the ideal scenario is to be available and around for all that cricket. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Kane Williamson said as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

As many as four New Zealand players will feature in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). While Kane Williamson will represent Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the event, pacers Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson will play for Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The young Kyle Jamieson is all set to make his debut as he was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL auction hosted on February 18 in Chennai for a staggering amount of INR 15 crore.