Injuries, or unavailability, to top pacers near the start IPL Franchises can give sleepless nights to coaches and support staff. While Lucknow Supergiants has, for a few years now, been one of the most affected teams, this time around three teams are sweating on their pace resources – Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. For KKR, their top two fast bowlers – Harshit Rana and Mathisha Pathirana – are dealing with injuries. They also lost Mustafizur Rahman to non-cricket reasons, but have drafted Zimbabwean Blessing Mudarabani in his place. SRH are also in a tough spot regarding their captain’s fitness. Pat Cummins While it is not certain whether RCB will get their spearhead Josh Hazlewood from the start of the tournament.
TOI Here’s a look at how the situation could play out for these teams.Double threat for KKRKKR’s star Indian fast bowler Harshit Rana will miss most of the IPL due to knee surgery. Although under threat of missing the entire IPL season, the management is yet to name a replacement in the hope that the 24-year-old will be fit by the business end. KKR have a couple of Indian fast bowlers in Vibhu Arora and Akash Deep, and will have to step up alongside Mazarabani and Cameron Green. This brings us to his other injury concern, Mathisha Pathirana. The three-time champions paid Rs 18 crore for the former CSK slugger, who is known to be prone to injuries. He missed most of the T20 World Cup with a shin injury, but reports suggest he will be fit in time for the IPL. But given his poor state of fitness, it will be a miracle if Pathirana is fit for the most part. That his reworked action following his injuries has made him less effective as a bowler will also worry the 2024 champions.SRH captaincy change?The SRH pace attack revolves around Pat Cummins, apart from the fact that he is the captain of the team. But the Australian Test captain is still recovering from a back injury that flared up while playing the Ashes Test despite not being fully fit. There is no clarity on when he will be fit and available, and there are rumors that SRH may hand over the captaincy to Ishan Kishan, who had a brilliant T20 World Cup display with the bat. There is no one in the SRH attack who comes close to the quality of Cummins in T20s. The likes of Shivam Mavi, Jaydev Annadak and Ehsan Malinga may be only serviceable, but it could be a huge challenge for SRH, despite their impressive batting line-up if Cummins is unavailable for long.Not enough enthusiasm for RCB.Josh Hazlewood is still recovering from his hamstring and Achilles heel injuries and has not played cricket for a long time. In RCB’s maiden title win last year, the Australian took 22 wickets at an average of 17.54 and it was his ability to hit the crucial strokes that made a serious difference. The pacer is racing against time to get fit and Kiwi fast bowler Jacob Duffy is likely to play in his absence.Duffy, though a capable bowler, is absolutely no threat on the Indian pitches and the RCB management hopes that Hazlewood will be returned in time to lead the attack as quality support to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal.
