IPL 2016: 5 recently retired cricketers whom fans want to see playing in the IPL

With the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) right around the corner, fans will be thronging to the stadiums to watch international teammates take on each other and rivals play on the same side.

However, there will be a few players who the fans might miss at the tournament. During the last one year or so, many famous cricketers have bid adieu to the international game, thus leaving a void in their respective national and domestic teams.

Here we take a look at the some of the biggest names that will be missed at this year's IPL, that is scheduled to start on April 9:

#1 – Virender Sehwag

The dashing Indian opener will be one of the biggest names to be missed out at the IPL this season after he announced his retirement from all formats and the IPL late in 2015. If there was any format that suited Sehwag, it was the T20 format as his attacking mindset perfectly fit with the demands of the format.

Sehwag's record in the IPL was quite commendable as he scored 2728 runs in 104 matches at an average of 27.55 and a phenomenal strike rate of 155.44. The opener from Delhi scored 2 hundreds and 16 fifties in the IPL.

Most recently, the 37-year-old had featured for the Gemini Arabians in the Masters Champions League (MCL) where despite being the title-winning captain, he was the second highest run-getter in the tournament. Sehwag had scored 318 runs in 6 innings at an average of 53.00 and an outstanding strike rate of 183.81, scoring 1 hundred and 2 half-centuries.

These numbers underline the impact that Sehwag can have in the shortest format of the game, and fans will definitely miss out on watching the swashbuckling opener in action.