Kolkata: The tenth season of the Indian Premier League is set to commence from of April 5. The auctions witnessed teams spending bombs on players to have them on board. However, all is not going well with this cash rich tournament. This time around, it has been injuries that have jolted the hype centring around the tournament.
Indian star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been the latest player to join the list of the injured players as he was ruled out due to a hernia injury. This is a huge blow for the Rising Pune Supergiants as Mitchell Marsh is already missing the IPL due to a shoulder injury.
Coming to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), its skipper and Team India captain Virat Kohli is likely to miss out on the first ten days of the tournament. Kohli, who suffered a shoulder injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia is undergoing rehabilitation to recover. Also joining Kohli is batsman KL Rahul, who injured his right shoulder in the same series. The 24-year old is reportedly flying to England next week for a surgery, having dislocated a joint.
A big worry for the Kings XI Punjab is the wrist injury to its star batsman and Indian opener Murali Vijay, which can require a surgery. Delhi Daredevils has been in a fix with its skipper JP Duminy withdrawing from the tournament citing personal reasons. It has yet again suffered a huge blow as Duminy’s South African teammate Quinton de Kock will not be able to play due to a finger injury, occurring recently at New Zealand.
Due to excessive bowling in the recent Border-Gavaskar trophy, the medical team of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has advised Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav to stay out of the glittering tournament for the first two weeks. While Gujarat Lions wanted Jadeja to continue showing his splendid form alike last year, the missing out of Yadav will be a huge blow to the Kolkata Knight Riders as star all-rounder Andre Russell has already been ruled out due to doping issues.
The injury to their key players has left the teams sweating. At the very last moment, players backing out puts a heavy burden on the teams, which now have to look for new players as replacements. The owners have every right to be disappointed as they spend hugely on these players. But the players cannot be blamed. Almost all the injured players have hurt themselves, while being on national duty. So, the team owners can do nothing but wait anxiously for them to be back on the field asap.