David Warner will defy the travel ban for Australian citizens to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
The 33-year-old is signed up with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who he has represented since 2014, for the 13th season of the tournament.
A global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has forced the BCCI to suspend the IPL 2020 till April 15.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has enforced a level four travel ban, closing borders for visitors and advising all citizens to abandon overseas tours.
But Warner’s manager James Erskine says the southpaw is ready to ignore the restrictions if the IPL does indeed go ahead.
“If the IPL is on David Warner’s planning on going,” Erskine told The Age.
“If things change dramatically, which can happen in the space of an hour, the answer is you change your mind. It’s no different to everybody else.”
Warner was reinstated as SRH’s captain for the upcoming season. He was first named as their captain ahead of IPL 2015. Warner successfully led SRH to their maiden title victory next year and also led them in IPL 2017. A one-year suspension, due to the ball-tampering scandal, saw him miss IPL 2018 while he played under Kane Williamson upon his return next year.
Apart from Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Billy Stanlake are the two other Australian players in SRH but there is no update regarding their participation in the cash-rich league.
As of now, there is no official update regarding the start of IPL. The BCCI has deferred IPL until mid-April. A call on the future of the league will be taken next month. IPL 2020 is likely to be canceled or delayed by a few months.
