IPL 2020: 4 players who might not play the All-Star match

The IPL All-Star game is going to be the centre of attraction before the start of IPL 2020, but the timing of the game means that some of the star players, whom the fans would have liked to see in action, are likely to miss the much-anticipated affair as they would be on national duty at the time the match takes place in India.

The All-Star game is scheduled to take place on the 26th of March. While England will be in the middle of a Test series against Sri Lanka at that time, Australia will be playing a T20I series against New Zealand.

A couple of players who are a part of the English Test team are all-format players and they play in the IPL as well. They will certainly not be available.

Apart from the English, the trans-Tasman representation in the All-Star game won’t be much either, as most of the top T20 players from Australia and New Zealand will be involved in the T20 series which will be played between the two countries from 24th to 29th of March.

Also see - India New Zealand head to head

Here are the 4 players who might miss the IPL all-star game.

#4 Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler would have been a certainty in the North-East team if he was available for selection. But, the second match of the Test series between Sri Lanka and England starts from 27th of March, which means Buttler will not only be unavailable for the All-Star game, he will be unavailable for the first IPL match of the Rajasthan Royals as well. The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman will travel to India only after the 31st of March.

Buttler has been a revelation in the IPL since he has started opening the batting for the Rajasthan Royals. He was not being able to make that much of an influence batting lower down the order, but he has grabbed the opportunity to bat at the top of the order with both hands.

The right-hander has scored 8 half-centuries in the last two editions of the IPL and has scored a total of 859 runs in 21 games, averaging more than 47. There is no doubt about the fact that Buttler would have set the stage ablaze if he was available for the All-Star match.

Note: All statistics as of February 12, 2020