CA not to stop Oz players from playing in IPL despite looming Ashes series

Sydney: Cricket Australia (CA) won’t stop its star players to participate in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) despite growing fears that some of country’s best players could be fatigued before the all important Ashes series.

In a huge year of cricket, the IPL is about to replace the Test team`s rotation policy as the most controversial topic of Australian cricket, with the cash versus country debate to flare in a hectic 2013, News.com.au reports. As the IPL is in April and May this year, it falls during the official leave period for players, and CA will not attempt to ban its stars from playing in the lucrative seven-week tournament, it further reported. In a bumper year featuring back-to-back Ashes campaigns abroad and at home, the IPL is sandwiched between a four-Test tour of India and the Champions Trophy one-day tournament, which precedes the Ashes tour of England, the paper added. It is understood that Dave Warner, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson (right), Matthew Wade and Ben Hilfenhaus could all play in the IPL while Test captain Michael Clarke, rising paceman Mitchell Starc and boom young quick Pat Cummins appear set to reject IPL offers while Peter Siddle will also steer clear, the paper said. The paper further added that the Australian stars bound for the IPL could be in India for more than three months, staying in the country for the rich T20 tournament following the gruelling Test series there. Nevertheless, a source has revealed that the CA is prepared to let them go to the IPL and the Australian Cricketers`` Association is not going to stand in anyone`s way. With a dreadful injury toll in recent times, the last thing Australia need is for some of their stars to arrive in England exhausted and on the verge of a breakdown ahead of the five-Test Ashes series, the paper concluded. ANI