The Australian players will be under no pressure to return to the IPL and Cricket Australia have offered to defend them if they choose not to go to India for the remainder of the tournament. The IPL was suspended for a week due to the cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.
This forced the foreign players to return home, with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Starc landing in Australia on Sunday. Stoinis said that everyone is fine while Starc refused to talk to the media.
“Everyone is fine,” Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis told Nine News after landing.
The news has now come in that the IPL is all set to restart by Friday, May 16. A report from The Age says that the players have been asked to reconvene at their team bases by Tuesday. However, if the players wish not to return then CA will take measures to defend them and avoid a possible ban from the future editions of the tournament.
“In that light, this masthead has been told that CA will defend the rights of players to make their own calls about returning to the IPL on a case-by-case basis, taking the view that their decisions should not be held against them for the future,” read a statement in the report.
Apart from the safety aspect, another reason why the Australian players may be reluctant to head back is because of the World Test Championship final clash against South Africa, which will start on June 11. With the final set to be played on May 30 or June 1, this means that the players will get little time to spend with their family before heading to the UK. After the WTC final, Australia will also have a West Indies tour.
If the final is played on May 30 or June 1, then the Aussie players will need to get fresh NOCs from the CA to play the remainder of the tournament as they have been given clearance until May 25, which was the original date of the final.
