England players won't take part in the second leg of IPL, confirms ECB

It is speculated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to conduct the remainder of the 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) from September 15 to October 15 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will be a task for the Indian board to ensure the availability of the overseas players as almost all the countries have their international calendar packed.

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Meanwhile, the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Ashley Giles has confirmed that they won’t be making any changes to England’s cricket calendar to accommodate IPL 2021. England is scheduled to feature in a five-match Test series against India till September 14. The Test series will be followed by a tour to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Speaking about the IPL schedule, Ashley Giles said, "I'm not aware of anything official, any requests to shift anything," Giles said. "As far as we're concerned and what we're prepared for, the matches will be where they are. I'm not surprised there are all sorts of speculation.

“Everyone wants to get their cricket in. But we've not received anything official and we're cracking on. We have a full schedule. If we go from the end of the fifth Test in September, we are set to leave for Bangladesh on September 19 or 20. We have a full schedule right through including Pakistan and wherever the T20 World Cup is.”

The veteran added that they will be giving some players rest from the Bangladesh and Pakistan series. However, that will be to keep them prepared for the upcoming T20 World Cup and not for them to play cricket elsewhere. Thus participation of the English players in the IPL is very unlikely.

"We are going to have to give some of these guys a break at some point. But the intention of giving guys a break for, say, Bangladesh, wouldn't be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere,” Giles signed off.