Jonny Bairtsow, Chris Woakes, Dawid Malan withdraw from IPL

In what comes as a major setback to the franchises, star England players Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Dawid Malan has pulled out of the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The trio joins Jos Buttler, who had earlier made himself unavailable for the UAE leg.

Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Woakes (Delhi Capitals), Malan and Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) will be part of England’ T20 World Cup campaign and will most likely be in the team for Ashes as well, that would have meant a stern four months of bubble-life.

Also, BCCI has mandated the UK bound players to serve six days in quarantine in UAE which may well have prompted the players to take such a step.

Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, George Garton, Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy are still expected to participate in the IPL. Meanwhile, Punjab Kings have signed South Africa batter Aiden Markram as a replacement for Dawid Malan.

The Indian players in the UK are likely to depart for UAE tonight. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has arranged a charter flight for Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj, who'll leave the UK shored tonight. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have also arranged the flights for their players - Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Cheteshwar Pujara will depart tomorrow. Mumbai Indians players Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bunrah have already reached Dubai.