Australia skipper Finch wasn't picked by any franchise for the IPL 14.
Amid uncertainty over the participation of Australian players in the remainder of the IPL 2021 in the UAE, Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch said the Cricket Australia (CA) could take decisions on a “case-by-case” basis, but he hasn’t “honestly thought about” it.
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended midway on May 4 after multiple players and staff members contracted the COVID-19 virus. Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the remaining 31 matches of the IPL 2021 will be conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in September-October this year.
However, the Australia players' availability for the remainder of IPL 2021 is uncertain with Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s newly appointed CEO, had stated the CA had yet to start discussions over players’ return to the UAE for the remaining games of the lucrative T20 league.
Finch told Sportstar: “I have honestly not thought about it. I would imagine it would be conducted on a case-by-case basis by Cricket Australia.”
He also didn't rule out the possibility of Australia following England's controversial rotation policy to manage the player workload in the tightly packed international schedule, especially due to the bio-bubble life brought in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finch further added, “I don’t think the players themselves like resting from international cricket. But definitely, with the increased squad sizes due to Covid bubbles, there are a lot of players on tours, so we will need to look at options to ensure these players are playing games.”
The Australian skipper also opened up about the non-selection of star batsman Marnus Labuschagne for the upcoming white-ball tours of the West Indies in July and then Bangladesh.
He signed off by saying, “Marnus is a wonderful player and has continued to show what he is capable of in T20 cricket. There is also an Ashes series coming up this summer, and Marnus is playing four-day cricket in England, which is vital for his Test preparations for the summer.”