IPL 2022 | Foreign players likely to miss initial phase of the competition

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 is set to commence on March 26, 2022. Chennai Super Kings will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening encounter in Mumbai. The cash-rich league will also have a couple of new teams, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants in the competition, making it a 10-team tournament. 

But before we move further, IPL 2022 is likely to be without some prominent faces in the initial phase of the competition. Here we take a look at the players. 

Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals probably have one of the most balanced lineups in the IPL 2022 but the franchise might suffer a blow as a few important players will miss some rounds of the games. Australia is playing Pakistan in an away fixture at the moment and David Warner and Mitchell Marsh are likely to miss a couple of matches. 

On the other side, Mustafizur Rahman and Lungi Ngidi are part of their respective national sides. Bangladesh are touring South Africa for three ODIs and two Tests. Anrich Nortje will be out due to injury. 

Lucknow Super Giants

One of the two newly included franchises, Lucknow Super Giants are likely to be without the services of Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers, and Quinton de Kock for some games. England pacer Mark Wood’s availability has come under dark clouds after he sustained an elbow injury during the 1st Test against West Indies. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis will only be available for the fixtures after the T20Is and ODIs against Pakistan. 

Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings had first released a number of key players but also bought some big names, especially in the T20 format during the mega auction. The Mayank Agarwal-led side, however, will not have the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, and Nathan Ellis for some matches. Bairstow is likely to miss one match as he is a part of England’s Test squad while Ellis might be unavailable for four games.KG Rabada is expected to miss between one to five matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Royal Challengers Bangalore recently announced Faf du Plessis as the new skipper after Virat Kohli had stepped down from the post. The RCB will be without some of their Aussie recruits in the early stage. 

Josh Hazlewood will be available only after the completion of Australia’s Test series against Pakistan while all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will be getting married to his fiancee. Jason Behrendorff is a part of the T20I and ODI squad and is expected to join the squad only after the conclusion of the fixtures. 

Gujarat Titans

Gujarat Titans are the second team included in the IPL and will be led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya who has earlier played for the Mumbai Indians. 

The Ahmedabad-based franchise’s some games won’t feature South African hard-hitter David Miller and West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph. Miller is a part of the South African team for the white-ball fixtures against Bangladesh while Joseph is with the West Indies team for the Test series against England. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad

The champions of 2016 edition of IPL will not have some of the South African players, such as Marco Jansen and Aiden Markram for a few games. Jansen and Markram will be featuring in the ODI series against Bangladesh. The two sides might also miss more matches in the IPL 2022, depending upon the squad announcement for the Test series. 

Also, Australia’s Sean Abbott has been included in the T20I and ODI squad against Pakistan. 

Rajasthan Royals

Rassie van der Dussen will be missing at least the first couple of matches as he is a part of South Africa’s ODI squad for the Bangladesh series. The tally can go up to five matches if he is picked in the Test squad as well. 

Kolkata Knight Riders

The Kolkata Knight Riders made a few tweaks in the squad and handed the captaincy to Shreyas Iyer. Now, they will be without some prominent faces for some games. 

Pat Cummins is leading the Australian squad in the Test series against Pakistan and will only be available after the completion of the fixtures. Aaron Finch who was included as the replacement for Alex Hales will be featuring in the white-ball matches and will not be available for the first few matches. 

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians are more or less pretty sorted with their squad. All the key players are available to play for the franchise. But Jofra Archer who has been out of action for more than a year due to injury will be out. 

"As it stands, it was always going to be next year. But I think I have progressed a bit faster than we all thought we would have which is still good but it's still gonna be next year. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high. I don't want to disappoint anyone. So I'm going to say next year," he had said earlier. 

Chennai Super Kings

South Africa’s Dwaine Pretorius is with the squad for the ODI series against Bangladesh and will miss the initial few matches.