England Cricket Board never compromises with the Ashes. In the past many English cricketers have missed the Indian Premier League matches to be fit and available for the Ashes. Even this year, Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of IPL as England Cricket Board does not want him to succumb to injury yet again before the Ashes.
Ben Stokes, the captain of England cricket team has said that he will miss a few final matches of CSK to prepare for the Ashes and play the one-off Test against Ireland. Harry Brook is another important player who may be asked to miss the playoffs of IPL 2023 to be completely fit for the Ashes which is scheduled to be played in June.
Joe Root was luckily sold in this year’s IPL auction to Rajasthan Royals. Till this year, he was never getting picked by any team in the auctions due to his persona of being a classic Test batter. Even England Cricket Board recognises Root as their premier batter. The recent reports suggest that ECB is not keen on Root playing the IPL.
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The England Cricket Board wants Joe Root to sit out majority of the IPL matches to be fresh and mentally ready for the Ashes. However, the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals want to completely utilise Joe Root as one of their key players in IPL 2023. They are not keen on following the directives that have been issued by ECB to Root.
This situation can ultimately lead to Joe Root pulling out of Indian Premier League. In this case, Rajasthan Royals can replace Joe Root with the attacking English batter Alex Hales who is continuously playing league cricket all over the world.