England stars Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Dawid Malan have all reportedly withdrawn from the Indian Premier League, joining Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in pulling out.
Stokes is not taking part in the rescheduled tournament as he continues to take an indefinite break from cricket, while Buttler withdrew to spend more time with his family after his wife gave birth to their second child.
Now, Bairstow, Woakes and Malan have all followed suit in the wake of the cancelled fifth Test between England and India at Old Trafford.
Bairstow was due to feature for Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Woakes was part of the Delhi Capitals squad and Malan was scheduled to link up with the Punjab Kings.
Their withdrawal means just ten English players will now be involved in the IPL, with Sam Curran and Moeen Ali the only players involved in the recent Test series committing to the tournament.
According to the Guardian, Bairstow, Woakes and Malan have decided to prioritise playing for England, with all three part of the T20 World Cup squad and in contention to play in the Ashes.
Punjab have officially confirmed Malan's withdrawal and signed South African batsman Aiden Markram as his replacement.
England's white-ball captain Eoin Morgan has already confirmed that he will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders, while Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, George Garton, Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone are all expected to feature.
Players have already begun flying out to the tournament, with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav already in Abu Dhabi.
A statement from their IPL team Mumbai Indians read: "Mumbai Indians flew in three of its Indian contingent members, captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav, to Abu Dhabi on a private charter flight.
"The trio, along with their families, arrived today morning and will now undergo 6 days hard quarantine, starting today as per the IPL’s guidelines.
"All members had returned negative RT PCR results before departure. A new RT PCR test was undertaken upon arrival at Abu Dhabi, which came out negative as well."
Malan, meanwhile, has been included in Yorkshire's squad for their upcoming County Championship clash with Warwickshire which is due to start on Sunday.
