ECB said players will be available for full IPL 2024: PBKS coach on reason behind exodus
PBKS coach Sanjay Bangar said that the reason behind the England players leaving the IPL 2024 season was down to the campaign being slightly extended. Bangar said that ECB told them England players would be available for the full season.
In Short
- PBKS fielded only one foreign player for SRH game
- Bangar said ECB said all players will be available for IPL 2024
- SRH beat PBKS by 4 wickets on May 19
PBKS coach Sanjay Bangar commented on the England players' exodus from the IPL before the playoffs and said that ECB had told them that they would be available for the full season. Bangar said that the reason behind the early exit was the season getting extended in the end. PBKS lost 6 out of their 8 overseas players before their final game against SRH.
The likes of Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran had returned home to prepare for the Pakistan series, while Kagiso Rabada returned home due to an injury. This meant that they fielded Rilee Rossouw as their only international player for the final game against SRH. They would end up losing the game by 4 wickets. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Bangar said that ahead of the auction ECB told them that the players would be there for the full IPL, but the season getting extended hurt them.
“When we went to the auction, the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) had made it clear that all the players will be available. It is just that it so happens that the tournament got slightly extended, I would say, because of multiple reasons. Everybody was in a similar position but we lost those English players,” said Bangar.
RR and KKR would lose Jos Buttler and Phil Salt as well before the playoffs.
International players absence hurt us, but not sole reason for poor IPL
Bangar went on to say that while losing international players did hurt them, it wasn't the sole reason behind their season being a poor one.
“For us, even losing Livingstone with a niggle around his knee, the ECB pulling him out. Even KG (Kagiso Rabada) had an infection and he had to go back (to South Africa). Those things coupled together meant that when we came to the last two matches, we were short of players of international pedigree and experience. That hurt us but that is not the sole reason why our season was below par,” said Bangar.
PBKS finished the campaign 9th on the table after their loss to SRH.