IPL 2020: 3 IPL regulars who will be missed this season
The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) season is all set to kick-off on March 29 with defending champion Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings in a Super Sunday clash at the Wankhede Stadium. The auction for season thirteen which was held on December 19th last year, as usual, witnessed several domestic as well as overseas players acquiring lucrative contracts. From the 18-year old Yashasvi Jaiswal to the world's number one ranked Test bowler Pat Cummins, 332 shortlisted players (domestic as well as overseas) went under the hammer in Kolkata.
While a few proven players like Chris Lynn, Tom Banton, James Neesham, and David Miller were bought at their base prices, several big guns went unsold much to the surprise of the entire cricketing fraternity. While there are many exciting debutants to watch out for this season, quite a few players including the 2019 World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan and Glenn Maxwell will be hoping for a dream comeback to the IPL having missed out from the previous editions.
Meanwhile, three experienced IPL regulars who have been a part of the league since its inception or over the past several seasons won't be seen in action this time due to various reasons. On that note, let us look at those three players who were a part of their respective franchises in 2019 IPL but will be missed this season.
#3 Shakib Al Hasan
In a shocking development back in October 2019, the ICC suspended Shakib Al Hasan from all cricket for two years, with one year of that sentence suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code. The governing body charged him under Article 2.4.4, for failure to report two approaches to engage in corrupt conduct - during the tri-series involving Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2018, and during the SRH vs KXIP game on April 26, 2018.
As he will be free to resume international cricket on October 29, 2020, subject to satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction, SRH released the Bangladesh player ahead of 2020 IPL auction. One of the best all-rounders across formats, the 32-year old who began his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011, joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018 after his seven-year stint with Gautam Gambhir's men. After a memorable 2018 IPL where he amassed 239 runs apart from picking up 14 wickets, he had a forgettable outing (9 runs, 2 wickets) last year having made just three appearances throughout 2019 IPL.
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Nevertheless, the former Bangladesh skipper who emerged as the third highest run-getter at 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup having amassed 606 runs in just eight innings was expected to continue his impressive run in the upcoming IPL for the Sunrisers. However, the vastly experienced campaigner who has 746 runs and 59 wickets in 63 IPL matches will not be seen in action this season due to the ban imposed by the ICC.
#Note: All statistics as of March 7, 2020