IPL chairman reveals real reason behind England players leaving tournament early

England's T20 World Cup-bound cricketers' decision to skip the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs due to their commitment to a four-match series against Pakistan has left many Indian fans disheartened.

Arun Dhumal, chairman of the IPL Governing Council, expressed his disappointment over the situation, labeling it as "unfortunate."

Dhumal explained to Sportstar that the ECB had committed to the players' full participation in the IPL, making the last-minute changes particularly regrettable.

He pointed out that some of the people who had initially made the commitment were no longer with the ECB, but emphasized that continuity should have been maintained despite changes in leadership.

"It was given as a commitment that they will be available for the entire tournament. It was indeed very unfortunate with the way things happened this time around. We have had good discussions with the ECB and hopefully, it won’t happen again in the future. A few people who had earlier committed to this aren’t with the ECB now, but ideally, even if there was a change of guard, things should have happened the way it was planned," Dhumal told Sportstar.

"Unfortunately, there was some change of guard at the ECB and so, the new people who took over did not know about the bilateral series they had planned, and they wanted to put their best team there. Due to that, the confusion arose," he added.

Dhumal highlighted that the IPL has always coordinated with various cricket boards regarding player availability and has been accommodating when players need to leave for legitimate reasons.

"We have always discussed with all the boards regarding the player availability and in case a player needs to go back due to genuine reasons, we definitely allow that. They have been quite cooperative so far, so all the players and the Board are aligned with the success of this tournament and love being part of the IPL. We are also very thankful to the other Boards who have been equal partners in this IPL. Everyone understands their responsibilities. I don’t think apart from minor hiccups, there’s anything to worry about," concluded Dhumal.