Ashley Giles denies altering schedule: The former English cricketer has denied receiving any request to tinker with the fixtures.
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It was only last week that speculations around the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) requesting ECB (England Cricket Board) to tinker with the fixtures of a five-match Test series between England and India to accommodate the remainder of Indian Premier League 2021 were doing the rounds.
If ECB Director of Cricket for Men’s cricket team Ashley Giles is to be believed, they haven’t received any such request from the BCCI. Giles’ views fall in line with an ECB spokesperson who had opined the same last week itself.
At present, the fifth England-India Test is scheduled to culminate on September 14. With BCCI roughly having a month in between the England tour and ICC T20 World Cup 2021, there have been murmurs of them exploring the window to conduct IPL 2021.
Ashley Giles denies altering schedule of India Tests to accommodate IPL 2021
Addressing the reporters, former English spinner Giles admitted to not being surprised due to the speculations going around and revealed that he continues to be unaware of any such request to “shift anything”.
“I’m not aware of anything official, any requests to shift anything. As far as we’re concerned and what we’re prepared for, the matches will be where they are. I’m not surprised there’s all sorts of speculation. Everyone wants to get their cricket in. But we’ve not received anything official and we’re cracking on,” Giles said.
As far as their international summer is concerned, England will kick-start the same with a two-match Test series against New Zealand starting from June 2. In between the New Zealand and India Tests, England will host Sri Lanka and Pakistan for three T20Is and as many ODIs each.
Apart from their domestic first-class and 50-over competition, ECB will also organize the T20 Blast and maiden season of The Hundred. With tickets already being sold for the fifth Test against India keeping in mind all other fixtures prior to it, changing the dates at this point in time is no mean task for ECB.
After finishing their international summer, England are slated to play white-ball matches in Bangladesh and Pakistan in preparation of the T20 World Cup.
“We have a full schedule. If we go from the end of the fifth Test in September, we are set to leave for Bangladesh on September 19 or 20. We have a full schedule right through including Pakistan and wherever the T20 World Cup is,” Giles added.
