WTC Final: New Zealand players could travel to UK with Team India after IPL 2021

New Zealand Cricket Players Association chief executive Heath Mills on Monday said their players who are playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in India may travel to the UK with the Indian players for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The likes of captain Kane Williamson (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians), Kyle Jamieson (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Mitchell Santner (Chennai Super Kings) are among 10 BlackCaps players in the various franchises of the IPL.

New Zealand are set to play a two-Test series in England from June 2 before they take on India in the WTC final in Southampton from June 18.

"They can't very well come home, do the two weeks isolation and then go to England, so they're going to have to be there (India) until the round-robin finishes, or the final series. Then we've got other players who are coming home - logistically there's not a lot of flights. It's not easy to sort out the logistics. We're working closely with NZ Cricket and they're in touch with the BCCI and the ICC," Mills told stuff.co,nz.

However not all the 10 New Zealanders in the IPL are a part of the Kiwi squad bound for England. Scott Kuggeleijn, Jimmy Neesham, Adam Milne, Finn Allen, Lockie Ferguson and Tim Seifert are not in the team.

In the same interview, Mills has said that New Zealand Cricket has been in regular touch with the players, their respective IPL teams, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), International Cricket Council (ICC) and also with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The chief has also confirmed that no New Zealand player has indicated any desire to return home amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in India. A total of three Australian cricketers, Andrew Tye, Kane Richardson, and Adam Zampa flew back home last week because of the pandemic crisis in the country. Earlier, England's Liam Livingstone, who is a part of Rajasthan Royals (RR) also left the tournament midway because of the same reason.

"There's no doubt they're certainly anxious about what is happening in India and what they're witnessing. Whilst they're anxious, they're ok. No one has indicated yet that they want to go home. There are four teams in a hotel and the hotel is locked down. The challenge is when they transfer from city to city, then they need to put on the PPE gear and that's when they're probably most at risk. The players are in the safest place in India, in the team bubbles, which is the most important thing from my perspective," added Mills.