IPL 2018 | David Willey set to replace Kedar Jadhav at Chennai Super Kings

A good number of Indian players such as Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, and Axar Patel have been drafted in to play county cricket in the upcoming English county season. But county cricket sides, such as Yorkshire faced a tough challenge to compete with the riches and glamour of the T20 world at the moment.

After Yorkshire lost Liam Plunkett, who has been selected as Kagiso Rabada’s replacement in the Delhi Daredevils set up due to the latter’s injury, they are set to miss out on the services of all-rounder David Willey as he was poised to join Chennai Super Kings in place of the injured Kedar Jadhav. Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire DIrector of cricket, bemoaned the current scenario of county cricket players as he said that the county teams find themselves in an ‘impossible situation.’

“We find ourselves in an impossible situation with these late replacement requests. At the moment, we are potentially looking at a situation where, if we deny a player an opportunity, we will be left with someone who is not completely focused on playing for Yorkshire. This would be counter-productive. There are now 12 English players in this year’s IPL, so the issue goes further than just here at Headingley,” Moxon told ESPNCricinfo.

Yorkshire received the paperwork regarding Willey’s impending move to CSK from the ECB, who act as the initial broker between the IPL and the counties. The England all-rounder left a pre-season friendly in Leicester on Monday to finalise terms with Chennai Super Kings who won their season opener in a thrilling encounter against Mumbai Indians with one ball to spare.

Moxon added that he was scheduled to meet up with the various coaches of the county cricket teams in order to work something out with regards to the transfer of county players to the various international leagues.

"I will be chairing a meeting with other directors of cricket at Edgbaston to discuss the future of the game. With the number of domestic T20 contracts available worldwide, it is important that we future-proof the County Championship. I will be calling for the introduction of a cut-off date, after which players will not be allowed to go to the IPL. Hopefully, this can gain national approval and be supported by the ECB," added Moxon.