The England Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday announced that the T20 World Cup-bound England players will miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs and final due to their four-match T20I series against Pakistan, starting May 22.

This means that Rajasthan Royals will be without the services of Jos Buttler, while Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings won’t have Phil Salt and Moeen Ali, respectively in their ranks.

Buttler and Salt have been crucial in Rajasthan and Kolkata’s run this season. While Salt is currently KKR’s leading run scorer, amassing 392 runs in nine games, and has formed a destructive opening pair with Sunil Narine, Buttler has scored 319 runs, including back-to-back centuries for table-toppers Royals. Moeen too is an integral part of the CSK squad.

The first IPL qualifier between the top teams of the league will be played on May 21. The Eliminator match between the teams placed at third and fourth will be played on May 22. The winner of Eliminator will take on the losing team of Qualifier 1 on May 24 in the second Qualifier. The final will be played on May 26 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Archer returns for England’s title defence

Meanwhile, Jofra Archer, the menacing pacer has been included in England’s squad for the World Cup 2024, marking his return to international cricket for the first time in a year.

Archer’s last appearance for England dates back to March 2023, and since then, he has been on the road to recovery from an elbow injury that sidelined him for nearly 12 months. Ever since 2021, his journey hasn’t been an easy one as he has encountered multiple obstacles, including stress fractures, persistent elbow problems and even surgery due to a freak fish tank accident.

The defending champions also picked experienced all-rounder Chris Jordan in the squad, despite his recent absence from the English set-up, and his last international appearance dating back to September 2023.

Buttler will lead England’s title defence and the batting department that includes the likes of Will Jacks, Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow among the top-order contenders. Ben Duckett will lend some left-handed diversity to the squad along with veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali.

Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran will provide the lower-order firepower to the team while Adil Rashid will lead the spin attack flanked by Tom Hartley.

The same squad has been selected for the four-match T20I series against Pakistan, which will commence on 22 May. All the players who are currently part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will return in time for the T20I series against Babar Azam’s men.

All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until May 25, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC’s Event Technical Committee. England will fly to the Caribbean on May 31 ahead of their first game against Scotland in Barbados on June 4. They are drawn in Group B at the T20 World Cup alongside Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman.

England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood