Buttler, Salt, and other England players set to miss IPL 2024 playoffs

The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that players who are part of the squad for the four-match T20I series against Pakistan (May 22-30) and the 2024 T20 World Cup won’t be available for the playoffs of the ongoing Indian Premier League.

The IPL playoffs - Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and Final - will be played between May 21 to 26.

England have announced the same squad for the T20 World Cup and the home T20I series against Pakistan. 

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the players are likely to return back home on the weekend of May 18-19, which could also rule them out of their respective franchises' final group-stage fixtures.

Here is the list of England players who will return home before the playoffs -

Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals)

Moeen Ali (Chennai Super Kings)

Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran (Punjab Kings) 

Phil Salt (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Reece Topley and Will Jacks (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)

England men's managing director Rob Key said: "You can't just call people back for no reasons: there are protections. Without injury or England commitments, we couldn't say to Phil Salt, for example, come back and have a rest for the next 15 days. But there is a window just before an England series when you can bring players back for England duty or injury.

"We've got to the point where actually, we think it's more important that you come back and that group gets together: the likes of Phil Salt, opening the batting for England, getting that role going with Jos Buttler.

"You just want them to get together and spend a bit of time and build up to it. So much of what our white-ball team has done has been turning up a couple of days before and, bang, we're into a series, whereas I think that Pakistan series is going to be important for that, so they'll all come back ready for that.

"You want people to really start understanding what their roles are, what your best XI is going to be, and that's what we want to make sure: when we hit Barbados, we know exactly what that is. Last time, for the (50-over) World Cup, Adil Rashid was injured in that series versus New Zealand and we probably didn't take into account how much, when he came back, that altered the balance."

Tom Kohler-Cadmore (RR), Chris Woakes (PBKS), Tom Curran (RCB), Luke Wood (Mumbai Indians) and Richard Gleeson (CSK) are the five England players who will be available till the end of IPL 2024. 

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