Missing in action
Brendon McCullum, Mike Hussey and Matthew Hayden, the stars of the IPL who have shone the brightest so far, will be missing in action soon. Players from Australia, West Indies and New Zealand won't be available to play in the IPL for the entire duration as Australia and West Indies are involved in a bilateral series while New Zealand tour England. The Australians are expected to play till the end of April before heading for a pre-series training camp in Brisbane while the New Zealand IPL players were allowed to miss the tour games in England but will nonetheless have to join the squad by May 1. Cricinfo looks at the possible impact of the event on the various IPL teams
Deccan Chargers
For VVS Laxman's Chargers, the coming weeks will see the departure of a big-ticket player in Andrew Symonds, who was priced No. 2 in the auction. Though he is yet to fire, it can be expected that he will show his class soon. While his departure, on May 1, means the Chargers will miss his allround skills, they do have Shahid Afridi and Scott Styris to fill that vacuum. Also, Herschelle Gibbs, in the bench currently, can, in theory, match up to Symonds' hitting prowess. So the next ten days could add another punch to Deccan's charge.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Sourav Ganguly's team will be the worst hit by the exodus. Ricky Ponting, McCullum and Chris Gayle, though he is yet to play due to injury, will be missing in action soon. Ponting will leave on May 1, McCullum on April 30 while the injured Gayle, even if he gets fit, will have to leave on May 15. These are big shoes to fill as Ponting is a proven commodity and McCullum became the first superstar of the IPL with a whirlwind record 158 on the opening night. They will look to the Pakistan opener Salman Butt and Zimbabwe's Tatenda Taibu to try plugging the big hole but it remains to be seen how effective they will be. Butt averages only 15.42 at a strike-rate of 81.20 in eight Twenty20 internationals and 16.62 at a strike-rate of 95 from 17 domestic Twenty20 games. Taibu averages 15.70 from 10 domestic Twenty20 matches but the runs have come at a fair clip of 122.65. Perhaps, Mohammad Hafeez will be pushed up the order. There is some good news for Kolkata, as the Pakistani seamer Umar Gul, who has joined the squad, will beef up the bowling.
Bangalore Royal Challengers
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is leaving on May 15 while Ashley Noffke and Ross Taylor leave on May 1 but the Royal Challengers won't be hit too hard. Misbah-ul-Haq, who has made Twenty20 his calling card, arrived on April 23 and Dale Steyn, who had a triumphant Test series against India, will be coming on April 27. Both are better players than Taylor and Noffke respectively but Chanderpaul will be missed as an opener. Wasim Jaffer looked out of place in the first game and Bangalore might decide to open with Praveen Kumar, who has opened in domestic cricket in the limited-overs format. The management is hopeful that the injured Bracken will get fit in time to replace Noffke. Even without him, they have a decent bowling line-up in Praveen , Zaheer Khan, Steyn and Anil Kumble, who is expected to get fit soon.
Chennai Super Kings
Hayden and Hussey leave on May 1 while Jacob Oram catches the flight on April 30 but they will be replaced by Stephen Fleming and the big-hitting South African allrounder Albie Morkel, who arrives on April 27. While Fleming, if he gets going, can make up for Hayden's absence at the top of the order, Albie can be expected to more than adequately replace Oram. But they will miss Hussey, who hit the fastest ton in the tournament - a 50-ball effort in the first game- in the middle order. However, the bowling will get better as they will have Makhaya Ntini coming in on April 27. Chennai has an inexperienced bowling attack that includes Palani Amarnath and Manpreet Goni but they have stood up to be counted. With Albie and Ntini in, it will only get better.
Delhi Daredevils
Daniel Vettori leaves on April 30 but Daredevils are going to get stronger with the inclusion of AB de Villiers, who joins the team on April 27. If the situation warrants an extra bowler or a batsman, de Villiers can don the wicketkeeping gloves as well. If they come across a wicket that aids spin, they might consider playing the legspinner Amit Mishra.
Kings XI Punjab
Brett Lee, Simon Katich and Kyle Mills will leave India on April 28. Lee's absence will really hit them hard, considering they don't have a foreign player of such class in the squad. Either VRV Singh, the Indian Test bowler, or the Under-19 bowler Ajitesh Argal will have to step up unless Tom Moody, the coach, decides to pick an Australian domestic player. Mills is yet to play in a game, and though Katich did play the first match, he is not known for big hitting and his absence won't leave a hole.
Mumbai Indians
Only Dwayne Bravo will miss out as he is leaving on May 15 to play in the home series against Australia. The allrounder Dominic Thornely, who was hit on the forehead by a Zaheer Khan bouncer and didn't play the second game against Chennai Super Kings, is expected to be fit for the third game. Mumbai will also have the services of the hard-hitting South African batsman Loots Bosman, who is set to join the squad on April 24.
Rajasthan Royals
No one is leaving and instead they will be bolstered by the arrival of Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Sohail Tanveer and Dimitri Mascarenhas. Smith will add some much-needed solidity to the fragile top order while Younis will bolster the middle order. Mohammad Kaif has struggled at the top and Darren Lehmann has looked out of touch, so Smith and Younis could well replace them. Mascarenhas, who will be available to play in the IPL from May 12 to 26, is a perfect fit for Twenty20 - he proved his big-hitting abilities when he struck Yuvraj for five consecutive sixes in a one-day match last year. Tanveer, a niggardly left-arm seamer, can bat as well and will add an extra dimension to the squad.
I wished he hadn't bowled that last over, there is just so much that can go wrong b/w full toss and perfect yorker.. but he should've done better
