Southampton: After withdrawing his name from the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, Australian pacer Kane Richardson explained as to how the decision was taken and what exactly led to him pulling out of the tournament.
Earlier this week, Richardson who was slated to play for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pulled out of the IPL as he and his wife are expecting the birth of their first child.
As a result, RCB named spinner Adam Zampa as a replacement for Richardson.
"It's always difficult to withdraw from a competition like the IPL, it's the pinnacle domestic competition in the world so it wasn't an easy decision, but when I sat down and thought about it, it was definitely the right one," Richardson said from Southampton on Wednesday.
"With all that's going on in the world at the moment and the challenge of getting home on time for something as unpredictable as the birth of a child, I couldn't risk missing that," he said.
"I'm disappointed to miss the IPL but hopefully there are opportunities ahead for that. I don't think I'd be able to live with missing the birth of my first child. I can be home and support my wife as best I can, and hopefully, those cricket opportunities come around again," he added.
Richardson is currently a part of 21-member of Australia who is in England to play three T20Is and as many ODIs.
Zampa's entry has now strengthed RCB's spin attack which already comprises of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, and the uncapped Shahbaz Ahmed are the other spin options in the RCB squad.
This will be Zampa's second IPL franchise as he had previously played the tournament for the Rising Pune Supergiants.
For that particular franchise, he had managed to take 19 wickets from 11 matches at an economy rate of 7.54.
The IPL 2020 is slated to be played from September 19-November 10 in the UAE across three venues -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
On August 29, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that 13 personnel including two players tested positive for COVID-19.
However, the board did not specify as to which team has how many confirmed cases. The identity of the players and staff was also not revealed.
"13 personnel have tested positive of which 2 are players. All the affected personnel as well as their close contacts are asymptomatic and have been isolated from other team members. They are being monitored by the IPL Medical Team," the BCCI had said in an official release.
All players and team personnel are required to undergo a six-day quarantine period after landing in the UAE and everyone needs to be tested for COVID-19 thrice.
The final match of the 2020 edition is scheduled to be played on a weekday, i.e. Tuesday, for the first time in the history of the T20 tournament.
This time, both the afternoon and evening matches will be played half-an-hour earlier than usual.
