Tim Paine, the Test captain of the Australia cricket team thinks that the Australians participating in the Indian Premier League will not be able to play Australia’s domestic tournament ahead of the first Test match against the Indians at the Gabba. But that would not affect his team.
Paine on IPL 2020
According to Australia’s COVID policy, all international arrivals have to observe a 14-day quarantine period to reduce the chance of spreading the COVID-19. Hence, the Australian cricketers taking part in the ongoing IPL in UAE will not get enough to play Shield cricket ahead of the first India Test at Adelaide in December. This means players like Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, and James Pattinson are few of the Australia Test regulars who are playing in the Indian Premier League will not be able to play Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield. The Shield is going to start this weekend, with the last match of the block between New South Wales and Victoria starting November 17. On the other hand, the IPL will end on November 10.
While speaking about the same, the Tasmania skipper Tom Paine told reporters in Hobart on Tuesday, “I wouldn’t have thought so, with restrictions coming back into the country.” He added, “These are guys that have transferred from white-ball to red-ball, from test cricket to Twenty20 cricket, within a matter of days.”
Not to worry
The Test cricket team captain of Australia, however, is clearly not worried about his teammates being underprepared whilst heading into the Test series against the Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli. “It’s never been an issue and we wouldn’t expect it to be.”
Meanwhile, the tentative dates of India’s tour to Australia are doing the rounds. In all likelihood, the teams will start by playing T20Is followed by ODIs and Test matches. Cricket Australia also confirmed the postponement of a one-off Test match against Afghanistan and three ODI matches against New Zealand until the 2021-22 season. Once the official announcement regarding India’s tour of Australia is done, the tournament will have a huge number of viewers considering the current situation.
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