Last Updated on 37 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Australia coach Andrew McDonald is bracing for some tough decisions regarding the 2027 Indian Premier League (IPL). The tournament is sandwiched between two blockbuster five-Test series – against India and England – along with various other international commitments.
Here is a look at Australia’s schedule for the next 12-15 months. The two-Test series against Bangladesh begins this week in Darwin:
- August 2026: Two Tests against Bangladesh (home).
- September 2026: Three ODIs against South Africa (away).
- October 2026: Three Tests against South Africa (away).
- November 2026: Three ODIs against England (home).
- November-December 2026: Five T20Is against England (home).
- December 2026-January 2027: Four Tests against New Zealand (home).
- January-March 2027: Five Tests against India (away).
- March 2027: 150th anniversary Test against England (home).
- June 2027: Potential World Test Championship Final in England.
- June-July 2027: Five Ashes Tests against England (away).
- August 2027: Three ODIs against New Zealand (home) – tentative
- October-November 2027: ODI World Cup in Southern Africa.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald braces for tough calls around IPL 2027
“I know people will start talking about the IPL and filling that time and what does that look like,” McDonald said to Cricinfo.
“I’ve said this before, the IPL is part of our management plan for a lot of our players, and to expose our best players in what I believe is the best competition in terms of T20 cricket has its performance benefits as well. You’ve just got to balance that out.”
McDonald believes the senior players including Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Travis Head love playing for Australia. But, the financial opportunities of the IPL, coupled with so much important international cricket, means decisions must be made in the future.
“What I will say about our players is they make good decisions across the journey, and that’s underpinned by discussions with the medical team and coaches. They want to play for Australia,” he said.
“There’s an Ashes on the back of that. Hopefully, a World Test Championship final and into a World Cup. There’s a lot of important priority cricket for Australia in that period. So we’re going to have to make some decisions.”
The Australia coach said no decisions will made on players’ participation on any match or series until the time comes. They will play nine Test matches between now and the end of the year (against Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand), followed by a bumper 2027.
A call on whether senior players play the 2027 IPL will depend on their state following the five-match series in India.
“The starting point is that you can do it all, and I think if you start from that point, then you can make decisions according to that,” McDonald said.
“Whereas if you’re just defeatist and say, ‘well, that doesn’t fit’, how do we know where Pat Cummins is going to be come the fourth Test against New Zealand? How do we know where Mitchell Starc is going to be at the end of South Africa? We don’t know.
“So you gather all that information as you go across it. You make decisions from Test match to Test match, and the IPL will be a decision once again at the back end of the India [Test series].”
 owing to the huge schedule.){kind=link}