Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch will miss first five games for Kolkata, confirms David Hussey

In a major development, Kolkata's Aussie recruits, Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins will miss the first five games for the franchise. Cummins is leading Australia's Test side in Pakistan and Finch will lead the limited-overs set up in the following ODI series. The limited-overs series will start with a three-match ODI series on March 29. Both teams will play a solitary T20I on April 5.

According to the terms and conditions by Cricket Australia (CA), the players can only join the ITL teams after April 5. CA wants its contracted players to fulfil their national contracts first. This means that the players can't play before April 8 as the overseas players have to go through a three-day quarantine in their hotel rooms. Meanwhile, the Kolkata team mentor David Hussey has confirmed that Cummins and Finch will miss the first five games for the franchise.

The team will play their games against Bangalore (March 30), Punjab (April 1), Mumbai (April 6), and Delhi (April 10). Hussey added that the duo will fit into the playing and the dressing room perfectly after they become eligible to play.

"Well, it is a concern, you want your best players available, but international cricket should be the para-limit. Every cricketer should want to play international cricket for their countries so they have commitments that way. I think Cummins and Finch will miss the first five games but they will be cricket fit and cricket ready," said Hussey during a virtual press conference.

"So, once they hit the ground running, both quality people and they will fit into the dressing room perfectly well," he stated further.