IPL 2021: Cricket Australia and ECB officially confirm their players' availability

Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have officially confirmed the availability of their players for the second half of IPL 2021. Both boards informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday that they have no objection in sending their players to the opulent competition.

Now, it's up to the individual players' whether to take part or not. This won't be much of an issue either. Australian players like Glenn Maxwell and David Warner opted out of international tours to be available for IPL 2021 while the ECB shifted its international tour of Bangladesh to make space for the tournament.

Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of Chennai Super Kings, confirmed receiving communication from the BCCI to Cricbuzz. He said:

"We have got a call from the IPL office and have been informed that the boards have no objection to their players' participation. It is now up to the players. Our Australian and English players (Jason Behrendorff, Sam Curran, Moeen Ali) are available."

The boards have informed BCCI of their decision to allow their players to go for #IPL2021. It is now upto the players to decide on their participation. @vijaymirror reports

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) August 14, 2021

MS Dhoni-led CSK reached Dubai for IPL 2021 on Friday, becoming the second team after defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) to do so.

Playing in IPL 2021 best preparation for the players: Ricky Ponting

Vanakkam again Dubai 😎#UrsAnbudenEverywhere #WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/2wAjzwfxh3

— Chennai Super Kings - Mask P😷du Whistle P🥳du! (@ChennaiIPL) August 13, 2021

Although not many official hurdles remain now for the players' participation in IPL 2021, there's still some internal debate going on in the public, especially about the work-load issues ahead of the T20 World Cup.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, however, dismissed these concerns on Friday, saying IPL 2021 would be the "best preparation" for the players.

"Those guys that haven't played for three or four months now, they need to get back into the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the best players in the world. No doubt it's their best preparation (for the T20 World Cup) to be in those exact conditions, playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world. All the best players in the world will be there … and I'm not just saying it because I want some of the Australian players there at the Delhi Capitals," Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Arch rivals CSK and MI will kick off the tournament on September 19, which will go on till October 15.