Ahead of the IPL 2025 resumption, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans have suffered a massive blow as their key performers Jos Buttler, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell are likely to miss the playoffs of the tournament.
The likes of Buttler, Bethell and Jacks were on Tuesday, May 13 named in England’s ODI squad for a series against West Indies and their availability for the rearranged IPL 2025 playoffs is in doubt now.
Notably, most of the overseas players including from England left for their homes when IPL 2025 was suspended last week due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan. A ceasefire was announced on Saturday and the BCCI took the call to resume the tournament on May 17, 2025.
However, the new IPL 2025 playoffs will now directly clash with the three-match ODI series between England and West Indies, beginning May 29, leaving Buttler (Gujarat Titans), Bethell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Jacks (Mumbai Indians) facing a clash between club and country. GT, RCB and MI are all well-placed to qualify for the final stages.
According to an ESPNcricinfo report, the ECB made a commitment before November’s mega auction that centrally-contracted England players would be fully available for the IPL in 2025. It meant that Bethell was not included in their Test squad to face Zimbabwe from May 22. But that commitment covered the IPL’s original dates, and the final has now been pushed back to June 3.
“We’re keen to support the IPL and the BCCI in getting the schedule up and running, and to facilitate players’ return should they choose to go back,” an ECB spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“No Objection Certificates have been granted based on the original IPL dates, so we’ll need to review any potential extensions, particularly in relation to any clash with the final white-ball squad. We’ll continue to work closely with the BCCI and the IPL as the situation develops,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, two more England players Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals) and Jamie Overton (Chennai Super Kings) have also been named in the ODI squad. However, their franchises have already been knocked out of contention for the knockout stages.
On the other hand, RCB’s two other English players, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt, have been dropped from the ODI squad, though Salt is included for the T20Is which starts on June 6.
Not only England players, the two players in the West Indies ODI squad – Romario Shepherd (RCB) and Sherfane Rutherford (GT) will be also affected with the clash.
Shepherd and Rutherford were likely to miss West Indies’ ODIs against Ireland from May 21-25, but the England series has more importance as teams ranked eighth and ninth and battling to seal automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup.
