Australia and West Indies put their October T20I series on hold, players to be available for IPL

The series was slotted keeping in mind the 2020 edition of T20 World Cup, which has now been cancelled.

Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday (August 4) confirmed that they have postponed their three-match T20I series against West Indies, slated to be played in October.

The three games were scheduled to be held in Townsville, Cairns and the Gold Coast on October 4, 6 and 9 respectively.

The series was slotted keeping in mind the 2020 edition of T20 World Cup, which has now been cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the cricket boards of Australia and West Indies mutually decided to put it on hold.

“Together with @windiescricket, we have agreed to postpone the Twenty20 series originally scheduled for Queensland in October,” Cricket Australia said in a tweet.

“Serving as warm-ups for the ICC T20 World Cup, the series will now coincide with the rescheduled T20 World Cup in Australia, in either 2021 or 2022.”

With this development, top players from both the countries will now be able to participate in IPL 2020, due to be held in the UAE from September 19 to November 10.

Australia’s three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, which was scheduled to be played from August 9 to August 15, has already been postponed.

Australia’s next assignment is a limited-overs tour of England in early September but the fixtures are yet to be announced.