With just over a month to go for the second phase of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in UAE, preparations are already in progress for the teams. Some of the franchises have already landed in the Middle East with their available players.
Meanwhile, a couple of franchises have also been strengthened by the return of their first-choice player.
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Delhi Capitals (DC) are set to have the services of Shreyas Iyer back after he missed out on the first half of the cash-rich tournament in India due to a shoulder injury.
According to a report published in ESPNCricinfo, Iyer has passed the fitness test and he is cleared to play competitive cricket by the BCCI.
The report further says that Iyer has already landed in Dubai and is currently undergoing the mandatory week-long quarantine period. In his absence, Rishabh Pant led the Capitals in the first leg of IPL 14 and they topped the points table with 6 wins from 8 games. Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether Iyer gets reinstated as a captain or not.
Under Shreyas Iyer, DC had made it to the play-offs in 2019 for the first time in seven years while they finished as the runner-up last season in UAE.
Apart from Iyer, left-arm pacer T Natarajan has also cleared his fitness test and is eligible for a return to his franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, for the UAE leg. He had sustained a knee injury in the first phase of IPL 2021 after playing just two games.
Sunrisers are languishing at the bottom in the points table with only 1 win from 7 games and they desperately need Natarajan’s services to bounce back in the competition.
Meanwhile, IPL COO Hemang Amin has informed the franchises to submit the list of replacement players and had mentioned the deadline of August 20 for the same.
“If in case any player who was injured or unavailable during the India leg of IPL 2021 and is now fit or available then the franchise which had taken a replacement player for such previous unavailability, will need to elect any one of them,” stated Amin as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
