While the Indian Premier League has turned out to be a huge success this
season with rampaging crowds and some huge hitting to boot, one element that will
be missing from its ranks will be the absence of some key West Indian, Australian
and New Zealand cricket players due to international commitments.
Among all the international players to be involved, it was the Australians who
drew the maximum attention in the auctions held two months earlier. The likes
of Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee were sold for extravagant sums
of money for this bimonthly cricketing extravaganza. However, the upcoming West
Indies Australia cricket series has come as a huge dampener for both these sides.
Andrew Symonds who hit a blazing century against the Rajasthan Royals
will now be missing for the Deccan Chargers for the reminder of this
tournament while Kolkata Knightriders will miss Australian cricket captain
Ricky Pointing for this tournament. However, the team that has missed an Australian
ace the most is Chennai Superkings who are reeling with the absence of
Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey. The absence of these southpaws has rendered
a strong Chennai batting line lame and it remains to be seen if they can cope
up with the absence of these players. One team which has done well in the absence
of a major Australian superstar are the Punjab Kings XI who have managed to
snap up victories after victories in the absence of Brett Lee.
Among the absent New Zealand players, the most prominent one would undoubtedly
be Brendon Mcculum. The diminutive Kiwi wicketkeeper set the tournament alive
with a blazing 158 in the first match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers
and his tally of fifteen sixes in just three matches is an evidence of how destructive
a player he was in his short stint here. The Kolkata Knightriders are also missing
Chris Gayle while the Mumbai Indians will soon have to say goodbye to the likes
of Dwayne Bravo. Other key players out with international commitments include
the likes of Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor for Delhi Daredevils and the Bangalore
Royal Challengers respectively and it does indeed remain a big challenge if
they can maintain a same level of performance in the absence of these superstars.
While the players missing out face a huge loss in the form of smaller pay
checks. The biggest loss will undoubtedly be borne by the millions of cricket
fans following the team through TV and the internet through live online IPL
cricket streaming as they would now miss out on some of the brightest names
in world cricket n this unique collection of cricketing superstars aka Indian
Premier League
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