IPL 2021: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to kick-start the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in India after hosting the previous season in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The tournament is scheduled to take place across six venues including the likes of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata from April 9 to May 30.
This time it will be a whole new challenge for all the eight franchises as all the matches will be played at neutral venues with no teams playing at their home grounds to dismiss the home advantage. Also, IPL 2021 will witness a total of 11 doubleheaders where 6 teams will play three-afternoon matches & two teams will play two-afternoon matches.
The tournament is just a few days away and all the franchises have already started preparing for the cash rich league, however, a few teams have been dealt with massive blows as their main players have either been ruled out or have pulled their name from the tournament owing to a several reasons.
In this article, let’s take a look at 4 top players who have ruled out of IPL 2021 for different reasons.
1. Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer has been unofficially ruled out of the entire season of the Indian Premier League. The Delhi Capitals captain has reportedly partially dislocated his left shoulder while fielding for the Kohli-led side in the 1st ODI of the three-match series between England and hosts India on March 23. After exiting the Team India bio-bubble, Iyer is set to undergo surgery.
As per ESPNcricinfo, it is learned that the 26-year-old will now possibly return to competitive cricket in the month of September only as the injury needs at least a healing time of 4 to 5 months.
Delhi Capitals will be severely affected by the absence of Iyer as the team has performed exceedingly well under his leadership. He was appointed as the captain of the squad during the 2018 edition after Gautam Gambhir decided to step down owing to the poor performance of the team.
2. Jofra Archer
Rajasthan Royals suffered a massive blow ahead of the upcoming season with star play Jofra Archer slated to miss out the entire tournament owing to injury. Jofra Archer will undergo a procedure to his right hand following a scan and subsequent Consultant review since he returned to the UK on Tuesday.
He has also had a further injection for the right elbow injury that had seen him declared unfit for selection for the recent concluded ODI series versus India.
The pacer who has represented Rajasthan Royals in 35 matches has picked up 46 wickets at an average of 21.32 and has been the backbone of the Royals franchise since 2018 alongside the likes of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. With Jofra Archer likely to be ruled out of this year’s IPL season, it is yet to be seen that who will replace him best in the team.
3. Josh Philippe
After storming the Big Bash League, Australia’s young gun Josh Phillippe had pulled out of the IPL 2021 just a month before the cash-rich tournament begins. Philippe, who had an impressive debut IPL season with the Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB), last year had been retained by the franchise prior to the auctions. Philippe, who made his debut in 2020, played five games and scored 78 runs for the franchise.
The 21-year-old wicket-keeper batsman set the BBL 2020 on fire with his sublime form and his absence is expected to hurt RCB. The reason behind Philippe’s absence from IPL 2021 is still unknown.
Given the IPL rule that a player can only be replaced by a player in the same base price bracket, after Joshua Philippe was ruled out of the entire IPL 2021 tournament, the Royal Challengers Bangalore opted to recruit New Zealand’s, Finn Allen.
The 21-year-old explosive opener was in top form in the Super Smash T20 tournament back home. He smashed 512 runs in 11 innings to emerge as the top run-scorer in the Super Smash League this year. He has also played 12 FC games, 20 List-A games, and 13 T20 matches for Auckland and Wellington.
4. Dale Steyn
Dale Steyn, ahead of the IPL 2021 mini auction announced that he will not be playing in the Indian Premier League this year, though the fast bowler insists he is not retiring just yet.
Steyn was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the 2020 edition of the T20 tournament, with the competition temporarily moved to the United Arab Emirates due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in India.
Steyn, who played three matches for Bangalore in IPL 2020, picked a solitary wicket and conceded 133 runs in the 11.4 overs he bowled last season.
Steyn made his IPL debut for RCB in 2008 and has picked 97 wickets in 95 IPL matches at an average of 25.85, an economy rate of 6.95 and a strike rate of 22.43.
In his glorified IPL career Dale has played for IPL teams including the likes of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and Gujarat Lions.