David Willey open to an IPL stint following the conclusion of Vitality Blast

English allrounder David Willey has expressed his desire to play in the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) once he is done with his Vitality Blast campaign with Yorkshire.

The Willey-led Yorkshire currently sit at third place in the North group. Willey was surprisingly dropped from the England squad for the three-match T20I series against Australia after having won the player-of-the-series award versus Ireland earlier in August. Despite that, Willey is looking forward to giving it his best wherever he gets the nod:

“I had an offer. The problem is there’s a crossover with the Blast and the IPL, so I said I’m available from when the Blast finishes. I want to captain Yorkshire in the Blast and see that through, so if there’s an opportunity that comes after that (IPL), great. There may still be opportunities which I’m open to,” the all-rounder said.

The dilemma, however, is the potential crisscross of fixtures. If Yorkshire make it to the finals, Willey will be unavailable till the first week of October. That makes him unlikely to be picked in the IPL since he’d have to miss a significant part of the tournament.

David Willey represented Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2018

Willey, who does have IPL experience under his belt, could be an excellent addition to any T20 outfit given his wonderful numbers in the shortest format of the game. He strikes at a tad under 140 and has two hundreds to his name, while his bowling stats with the new ball are second to none. The allrounder is also open to a BBL contract if it comes his way:

“Again, there’s been a bit of interest there. But the issue for me there will be family travel. I’m not willing to spend that long away from my family. If that changes, I’ll bite someone’s hand off to get over and play, play any of the franchise cricket really, but it’s just weighing everything up,” Willey added.

Willey will be in action for Yorkshire in the Bob Willis Trophy game versus Leicestershire starting next week.