The Indian Premier League (IPL) is less than a week away but without a handful of stand-out players.
The league’s organisers pushed the dates back to 18th primarily to ensure the availability of South Africa and Australia’s players who finish their one-day series on the 12th, besides giving Indian players a deserved break after their victorious tour of New Zealand.
However these last minute changes have not helped the Twenty20 competition hold on to some of its star attractions.
Fortunately for the IPL, players from South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be able to participate in the entire four-week event.
The irony is that this year’s IPL schedule clashes with negligible amount of international cricket. It clashes with five ODIs and a Twenty20 international between Australia and Pakistan in UAE, besides two Tests and ODIs between England West Indies midway through May.
Last year’s semifinalists Kings XI Punjab take the biggest hit as far as absent overseas players are concerned, followed by Deccan Chargers, Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. On the financial front, the biggest loser Symonds, who cost Deccan Chargers 1.35 million dollars. Both Symonds and Lee will earn considerably less since the duo is off to UAE to play Pakistan later this month.
Players not available for whole event: Punjab: Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Jerome Taylor, Ravi Bopara and Sreesanth due to an injury; Delhi: Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Brett Geeves; Mumbai: Dwayne Bravo; Kolkata: Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey and more than a few Pakistan players; Bangalore: Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn and Nathan Bracken; Deccan: Andrew Symonds and Fidel Edwards; Chennai: Michael Hussey and Andrew Flintoff; Jaipur: Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir and Kamran Akmal.
