By 
We’re only one-third of the way into Tata IPL 2023, and we’ve already seen plenty of enthralling cricketing action and thrilling finishes for a season, and more looks to be on the way.
However, cricket can sometimes be a cruel game, and some franchises are battling it out amidst injury crises to some key players. Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant’s absences are a loss to their respective teams, the Indian national side, and the fans.
They aren’t the only players ruled out of the season due to injuries or withdrawing from the tournament.
On that note, let’s look at a complete list of players injured/unavailable for IPL 2023 and their replacements for the Group A Teams.
Delhi Capitals
1) Rishabh Pant – Replaced by Abhishek Porel
DC is one of the teams heavily affected by injuries in IPL 2023, with their skipper Rishabh Pant ruled out of action for quite a while after suffering an accident in December 2022. David Warner is leading DC in Pant’s absence.
They replaced him with young wicket-keeper Abhishek Porel from Bengal. The youngster has had to bat in some tricky situations and has given a good account of himself so far.
DC doesn’t have other major injuries or player unavailabilities, although Mitchell Marsh missed two games for personal reasons.
Kolkata Knight Riders
1) Shreyas Iyer – Replaced by Aarya Desai
2) Shakib Al Hasan – Replaced by Jason Roy
Another side that will miss their skipper due to injury is the Kolkata Knight Riders. Their captain and star Indian batter Shreyas Iyer is forced to miss IPL 2023 due to a recurring back problem for which he’ll undergo surgery soon. Nitish Rana is captaining KKR instead, with young Gujarat batter Aarya Desai signed on as Shreyas Iyer’s replacement.
They lost another player early in their campaign, with Shakib Al Hasan pulling out of the tournament. Dashing England opener Jason Roy has been signed as Shakib’s replacement, although he’s yet to feature in a game.
While Andre Russell‘s fitness has been a concern, KKR hasn’t had any other injury problems.
Lucknow Super Giants
KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants is one team that doesn’t have many injury problems to complain about. Mohsin Khan, one of the finds of IPL 2022, was set to be ruled out of the tournament, but in a boost to LSG, the left-arm seamer is all set to join the squad for the remainder of the season, and he should boost what’s an already strong LSG bowling attack.
Quinton de Kock‘s unavailability for the first couple of games wasn’t an issue for LSG, with Kyle Mayers reveling as an opener. QDK still hasn’t regained his spot in the side, with Mayers’ strong form respected by the team management.
Mumbai Indians
1) Jasprit Bumrah – Replaced by Sandeep Warrier
2) Jhye Richardson – Replaced by Riley Meredith
The Mumbai Indians went hard for Jofra Archer in the IPL 2022 Auction, hoping that once Archer was fit, they could play Bumrah and Archer in tandem. However, with Archer close to regaining full fitness, Bumrah is now out injured due to a back problem.
Jasprit Bumrah looked off-color even last season when he had to carry the MI bowling lineup by himself. In his absence, MI’s bowling roster looks even weaker, with a resurgence in form for Piyush Chawla the only positive.
MI banked heavily on the prospects of playing Bumrah, Archer, and Aussie seamer Jhye Richardson in the same playing XI. However, Jhye is also out of IPL 2023 after sustaining a hamstring injury. Fellow countryman and pacer Riley Meredith, who played for MI last season, is his replacement.
While one could say MI already has enough injury problems, Jofra Archer isn’t fully fit yet and hasn’t featured in three of MI’s four games this season. With Rohit Sharma‘s workload also set to be managed, it doesn’t look great for MI on the injury front.
Rajasthan Royals
1) Prasidh Krishna – Replaced by Sandeep Sharma
Prasidh Krishna was one of the best players of IPL 2022, and his injury was a big blow to the Royals. Prasidh Krishna was almost unplayable with the new ball, bowling a league-high total of 200 dot balls, and that took him to 4th place on the MVP list.
However, RR seems to have found an able replacement for him in Sandeep Sharma, with the IPL veteran delivering the goods for them so far, both with the new ball and at the death.
Comments