MUMBAI: Players from Afghanistan, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe have committed to being available for the entire duration of the next three Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons (2025-27).
The exception, though, has been made for a few Australian players who will not be available at the start of IPL 2026 and IPL 2027. In 2026, Australia are scheduled to tour Pakistan for a three-match ODI series, immediately following the T20 World Cup, with the short tour tentatively concluding by March 18. IPL 2026 is slated to begin from March 15.
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“The relevant players in this squad, or rested from this squad due to their participation in the T20 World Cup, will be released to play in the IPL at the conclusion of the series,” the BCCI informed the franchises on Friday, couple of days ahead of the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah.
In 2027, Australia are due to host England in the Ashes to celebrate 150 years of Test cricket in a one-off match in Melbourne from March 11. IPL 2027 is pencilled to begin from March 14.
“Relevant players will be released to play in the IPL at the conclusion of that 150th Test,” the BCCI informed the franchises. “Players will be released from their domestic cricket commitments should they desire an NOC to participate in the IPL,” the BCCI communicated, following a directive in this regard by Cricket Australia (CA).
Barring Shakib Al Hasan, who has committed to playing the next three IPL seasons in full, Bangladesh’s players will be available on a non-regular basis.
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has communicated to the BCCI that all of their centrally contracted players, including Harry Brook, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, and Reece Topley will be available for all the matches.
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It must be noted here that England had pulled out their players before the IPL 2024 playoffs, a move that didn’t go down well with the franchises, who had been promised full availability of all players.
“ECB’s non-centrally contracted players are available for the next three seasons of the IPL. Some players will be out of contract in this period but within their current contracts they are available,” the BCCI has told the franchises.
The franchises have been informed that for the upcoming 2025 season, Matthew Short (Australia, 50 %), Nandre Burger (South Africa 75%), Dion Myres (Zimbabwe, 85 %), Mark Chapman (New Zealand, 55%), Rilee Rossouw (South Africa, 50%) and Will Young (England 50 %) will not be fully available.
In case of Sri Lanka, the BCCI note mentions, “Full Availability of players for IPL 2025. Players who are retained for IPL 2026 and IPL 2027 will have full availability, while availability of the players who are released prior to IPL 2026 and IPL 2027 will be informed before the auction of that particular season.”