In a major boost to the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, overseas players from most Full Member countries Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe have committed to being fully available for the next three IPL seasons starting 2025.
This excludes Pakistan, whose players have not played in the IPL since the inaugural season in 2008 due to a political stalemate between the two nations' governments.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has submitted a list of 18 centrally contracted players who will be fully available for the next three IPL seasons. Test captain and ace all-rounder Ben Stokes is a huge name missing from the list.
The list includes players like Harry Brook, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, and Reece Topley will be fully available for the next 3 IPL seasons.
The BCCI said, "ECB's non-centrally contracted players are available for the next three seasons of the IPL. Some players will be out of contract in this period but within their current contracts they are available."
Cricket Australia (CA) has given clearance to all its players - both international and domestic - to feature in the IPL 2025 season. However, some players may be kept for a few international matches.
In 2026, Australia will play a three-match ODI series in Pakistan, which the CA has said will "conclude no later than March 18." Australian players competing in that series, as well as those resting after the T20 World Cup 2026, will join the IPL following the Pakistan trip.
Australian players who play in the one-off Test against England in March 2027 to mark 150 years of Test cricket will join after the match.
Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) has said the availability of some of its players for the 2026 and 2027 seasons will be confirmed later.
"Sri Lanka: Full Availability of players for IPL 2025. Players who are retained for IPL 2026 and IPL 2027 will have full availability, while the availability of the players who are released before IPL 2026 and IPL 2027 will be informed before the auction of that particular season," the BCCI note said on the Lankans.
The odd exception from the above-mentioned countries are limited availability of certain players for the upcoming 2025 season. They are Matthew Short (Australia, 50 percent of the 2025 season), Nandre Burger (75 percent), Dion Myres (Zimbabwe, 85 percent), Mark Chapman (New Zealand, 55 percent), Rilee Rossouw (South Africa, 50 percent) and Will Young (New Zealand, 50 percent).
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has submitted 13 names, with changing availability for each player throughout a three-year period. They are Taskin Ahmed, Litton Kumar Das, Mahedi Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Shoriful Islam, Shohidul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe: Players from these countries will be fully available.
(ESPNCricinfo/Cricbuzz inputs)
