England batsman Dawid Malan, who was supposed to turn up for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the second phase of IPL 2021, has pulled out of the cash-rich tournament.

Taking to Twitter, PBKS on Saturday (September 11) confirmed the news, citing that Malan will take some time off to be with his family and won’t be available for the second half of IPL 14.

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“Dawid Malan will not be travelling to UAE for the remainder of #IPL2021. He will be taking some time off to be with his family ahead of the #T20WorldCup and Ashes,” Punjab Kings tweeted.

In another tweet, PBKS announced South Africa’s Aiden Markram as Malan’s replacement. Markram is yet to play in the IPL but he boasts a healthy T20I strike rate of 150 with four half-centuries from 25 matches.

Nonetheless, Dawid Malan’s unavailability is a big blow for the Punjab-based franchise as he holds the top spot in the ICC T20I batting rankings. The southpaw featured in only one game in the first half of IPL 2021 against Delhi Capitals (DC) and scored 26 runs in it.

Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener Jonny Bairstow has also opted out of the UAE-leg of IPL 2021 due to personal reasons.

While SRH is yet to release a statement on Bairstow’s unavailability, a PTI report suggests that the England wicketkeeper won’t be part of the IPL, starting September 19 in UAE.

"They [Malan and Bairstow] won't be boarding the flight to UAE. One of the reasons for their pull out is the six-day quarantine which they didn't need to do earlier," a BCCI official quoted as saying by PTI.

Bairstow is a regular feature in the SRH line-up. He had scored 248 runs at a strike rate of 141.71 in seven games earlier this season.