The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start from March 22, but several teams are grappling with player injuries. Some stars might miss the opening games due to health concerns or other commitments.
Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener. However, injuries and international cricket threaten to sideline key players for the initial matches.
- Lokesh Rahul: Indian batsman Lokesh Rahul has been sidelined for some time. He played only one Test against England and missed half of IPL 2023 due to an injury. He might miss the initial IPL 2024 matches due to a similar issue.
- Rashid Khan: Afghanistan's star all-rounder Rashid Khan underwent back surgery in November and is currently recovering. This ruled him out of the Big Bash League and Pakistan Super League. His participation in IPL 2024 remains uncertain.
- Mathish Pathirana: Sri Lanka's pace bowler Mathish Pathirana, who impressed with 19 wickets for Chennai Super Kings last season, suffered an injury in a recent T20 match against Bangladesh. He may take weeks to recover.
- Devin Conway: New Zealand's Devin Conway, the leading run-scorer for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023 (average of .672), injured his thumb against Australia last month. This is a significant setback for the team.
- Suryakumar Yadav: Mumbai Indians' Suryakumar Yadav underwent surgery in January for an injury sustained against South Africa. He's currently rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy and might miss the first two or three matches.
- Matthew Wade: Australian batsman Matthew Wade, part of the champion Gujarat Titans team in 2022, will miss the initial IPL matches due to his commitment to the Sheffield Shield League final with Tasmania from March 21-25. This will be the first time Gujarat plays under Shubman Gill's captaincy.
Read Also | Rajasthan Royals to Wear Special Pink Jersey Against RCB in IPL 2024; Know Why
The availability of these players will significantly impact team strategies and performance in the early stages of IPL 2024. Fans eagerly await updates on their recovery and potential return to the field.
Here are the initial matches of IPL 2024:
| Match No | Fixture | Date | Venue | Time |
|---|
| 1 | CSK vs RCB | March 22 | Chennai | 7:30 PM IST |
| 2 | PBKS vs DC | March 23 | Mohali | 3:30 PM IST |
| 3 | KKR vs SRH | March 23 | Kolkata | 7:30 PM IST |
| 4 | RR vs LSG | March 24 | Jaipur | 3:30 PM IST |
| 5 | GT vs MI | March 24 | Ahmedabad | 7:30 PM IST |
| 6 | RCB vs PBKS | March 25 | Bengaluru | 7:30 PM IST |
| 7 | CSK vs GT | March 26 | Chennai | 7:30 PM IST |
| 8 | SRH vs MI | March 27 | Hyderabad | 7:30 PM IST |
| 9 | RR vs DC | March 28 | Jaipur | 7:30 PM IST |
| 10 | RCB vs KKR | March 29 | Bengaluru | 7:30 PM IST |
| 11 | LSG vs PBKS | March 30 | Lucknow | 7:30 PM IST |
| 12 | GT vs SRH | March 31 | Ahmedabad | 3:30 PM IST |
| 13 | DC vs CSK | March 31 | Visakhapatnam | 7:30 PM IST |
| 14 | MI vs RR | April 1 | Mumbai | 7:30 PM IST |
| 15 | RCB vs LSG | April 2 | Bengaluru | 7:30 PM IST |
| 16 | DC vs KKR | April 3 | Visakhapatnam | 7:30 PM IST |
| 17 | GT vs PBKS | April 4 | Ahmedabad | 7:30 PM IST |
| 18 | SRH vs CSK | April 5 | Hyderabad | 7:30 PM IST |
| 19 | RR vs RCB | April 6 | Jaipur | 7:30 PM IST |
| 20 | MI vs DC | April 7 | Mumbai | 3:30 PM IST |
| 21 | LSG vs GT | April 7 | Lucknow | 7:30 PM IST |
The ten participating teams are as follows:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK):
- Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
Delhi Capitals:
- Squad: Rishabh Pant (c), Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Lungi Ngidi, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Swastik Chhikara.
Gujarat Titans:
- Squad: David Miller, Shubman Gill (c), Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Robin Minz.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
- Squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Sakib Hussain.
Lucknow Super Giants:
- Squad: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Mohd. Arshad Khan.
Mumbai Indians:
- Squad: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, Hardik Pandya (c), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma.
Punjab Kings:
- Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
Rajasthan Royals:
- Squad: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
- Squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
- Squad: Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram (c), Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
Read Also | Ambati Rayudu Wants Rohit Sharma to Lead CSK After MS Dhoni Retires; Here’s What He Said
