Cricket Australia (CA), on Sunday, in a statement said that it has cleared Australian players to play in the second half of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) that will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in September and October. This also marks the successive season in which the likes of David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have missed Australia’s domestic competitions to partake in the IPL.

This news comes after the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed that the three-match ODI series against Australia that was planned to be held in India has been postponed. This ODI series would’ve helped both the team in their run-up to the T20 World Cup.

The three-match ODI series in India was cancelled keeping in mind the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As many as 8 Australian players who played in the first half of the IPL made themselves unavailable for their country’s recent tour of the West Indies and Bangladesh.

Seven of those players will now make an IPL return. While Pat Cummins said that he will give the IPL a miss, he is available for the T20 World Cup

Australia great Ricky Ponting, who coaches the Delhi Capitals IPL, said the Indian domestic T20 league will be ideal preparation for the T20 World Cup.

“No doubt it’s their best preparation to be in those exact conditions, playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world,” CA quoted Ponting as saying.

“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. I’m not sure if they’ll be any restrictions on the bowlers going there, there may well be, but certainly the guys like Smith, Davey, Maxi, Stoinis who have been out of cricket for three or fourth months they need to get back into the groove,” he added.

The rescheduled IPL will have 36 games in 27 days between September 19 and October 15 in the UAE.

The second half of the IPL will finish just two days before the T20 World Cup begins.

The T20 World Cup will begin with the qualifier rounds, featuring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, Oman and Papua New Guinea.

In Group 1 of the Super 12 stage: Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies, plus two teams from the qualifier round.

In Group 2 of the Super 12 stage: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two qualifiers.