Big blow for Punjab Kings as England star fails to get NOC to play in IPL: Report

The Punjab Kings will be without the prolific run scorer for the entirety of the 2023 season of the IPL

Updated on: Mar 23, 2023, 16:46:55 IST

By HT Sports Desk

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The Punjab Kings have been handed a blow even before the start of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season with one of their major stars not getting a No Objection Certificate from their national cricket board to play in the league. The league starts on March 31 with Punjab playing their first match on April 1 against the Kolkata Knight Riders at home in Mohali.

Punjab Kings start their campaign on April 1 (Punjab Kings)

According to a report on Cricbuzz, England's Jonny Bairstow will miss the tournament this year having failed to obtain an NOC from the England and Wales Cricket Board. Bairstow is recovering from a leg injury he sustained in September last year. It had forced him to miss the 2022 T20 World Cup which England eventually won.

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The ECB however, cleared all-rounder Liam Livingstone, who is coming back after recovering from his knee and ankle injuries, to play in the IPL. Punjab Kings had bought Livingstone and Bairstow for ₹11.50 crores and ₹6.75 crores respectively during the IPL auction.

Bairstow missed England's T20 World Cup-winning campaign and Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand after sustaining multiple fractures following a freak slip on the golf course in September 2022. Bairstow, who underwent surgery on his his broken leg and dislocated ankle in October last, is expected to be up and running in a couple of weeks' times, according to the report.

The 29-year-old Livingstone too had a stop-start season in 2022 after hurting his ankle during the Hundred tournament in the UK. He has been out of action since the Rawalpindi Test last December because of injuries. He was part of the Lancashire County Cricket Club's off-season training recently in Dubai. The report also said that Sam Curran, who was the most expensive buy at the IPL auction earlier this year, will be available for Punjab Kings, who splurged ₹18.50 crore for the fast bowling all-rounder.

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