Only eight days after the competitionwas suspendedamid mounting hostilities along India’s border with Pakistan the Indian Premier League returns on Saturday, with most of the foreign players who scattered across the globe in the 48 hours after the competition collapsed now back in the country, their pursuit of runs and wickets having been temporarily replaced by the rapid accumulation of air miles.
The plug was effectively pulled on the tournament 10.1 overs into a game between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala on 8 May, when as rockets landed only 80km to the west the floodlights went out, fans were told to leave and players rushed back to their hotel. That match has been rescheduled for 24 May in Jaipur with all the remaining games to be played in only six venues and Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata joining Dharamsala in being cut from the schedule.
The Pakistan Super League, which announced and abandoned plans to relocate to the UAE before it too was suspended, also resumes on Saturday with eight games remaining and its final rescheduled for 25 May. All of its remaining matches will be played in either Rawalpindi or Lahore though doing so has forced only two of them to be relocated. The only city to be stripped of a game is Multan, which hosted two England Tests last October.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru, whose English trio of Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt have all reported for duty, meet Kolkata Knight Riders in the first of the 13 remainingIPLleague fixtures, with four playoff games starting on 29 May and culminating in the final on 3 June.
The new dates bring the tournament into conflict with some international commitments, notably England’s one-day international series against West Indies that starts at Edgbaston on 29 May and the preparations of both Australia and South Africa for the World Test Championship final that begins at Lord’s on 11 June. England are expecting all the players named in their squad to make themselves available butCricketWest Indies has chosen to release Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd from theirs, saying they “fully support those players who choose to remain in India” and “remain confident in the depth and quality of our talent”.
Some foreign players – including Mitchell Starc and Faf du Plessis of Delhi Capitals and Sam Curran and Jamie Overton at Chennai Super Kings – have chosen not to return to India while others, including England’s Bethell, Will Jacks and Jos Buttler as well as the eight South Africans also involved in the WTC final – whose association rebuffed the Board for Control of Cricket in India’s pleas to let them stay on – will now leave at the end of the league stage.
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Both competitions have allowed teams to sign temporary replacements for any withdrawals and Jonny Bairstow looks set to be one of the high-profile beneficiaries, with the Yorkshire batter set to replace Jacks at Mumbai Indians. Curiously Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis, who had been playing for Quetta Gladiators in the PSL, has withdrawn from that competition citing security concerns only to sign up to replace Buttler at Gujarat Titans.