3 IPL teams that will be most affected by unavailability of players
Even though IPL is two months away, the teams are already in a fix and have a major issue to deal with. A large number of international players won't be available for the entire season because of the World Cup.
Cricket Boards of all the countries are trying their level best to protect their players from burning out before the World Cup and are not willing to take any chances about their fitness.
As a result, players from only New Zealand and West Indies will be available for the entire season. While players from Australia and Bangladesh will be available only till the 3rd and 2nd week of April respectively, players from South Africa and Sri Lanka will be available only till early May. Many of the IPL teams have a heavy contingent of players from these teams and their unavailability will affect them in a huge way. Even BCCI is considering giving some of the Indian players some breathing time before the World Cup and it might make these players unavailable for a few matches. Here are the three teams that will be most affected by the absence of international players.
#3 Mumbai Indians
International players who are available for the entire season - Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne
International players whose availability is doubtful - Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock, Lasith Malinga, Jason Behrendorff
One of the major reasons for Mumbai Indians failing to reach the playoffs last season was the underwhelming performance of their overseas players. They rectified it by picking up Quinton de Kock and Lasith Malinga for IPL 2019, but it might just not be enough to solve Mumbai Indians' woes. Quinton de Kock and Lasith Malinga, who is set to lead Sri Lanka in the World Cup, won't be around for the last two weeks of the season. Also, Jason Behrendorff has been picked in the Australian ODI side and if he does well, he too might not be available for a major part of the tournament.
However, Mumbai Indians team management will be having sleepless nights over the availability of Jasprit Bumrah. There have been talks about managing Bumrah's workload before the World Cup which might result in him missing some of the matches this season. The absence of these crucial players might have a huge bearing on Mumbai Indians' chances this year.