Delhi Capitals will have the services of Shreyas Iyer, while and Sunrisers Hyderabad could count on T Natarajan, for the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League 2021.
The Indian board has allowed IPL franchises to have those players back for the remaining part of the tournament. During the Indian leg, they had lost and replaced Iyer and Natarajan.
“If in case any player who was injured or unavailable during the India leg of IPL 2021 and is now fit or available then the franchise which had taken a replacement player [due to] such previous unavailability, will need to elect [either] one of them,”
Hemang Amin, the IPL’s chief operating officer, intimated the franchises earlier this week, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
The IPL COO also said that the player who was roped in as a replacement in India but is not retained by a team for the UAE leg of the competition will be slotted in the IPL’s registered pool of players. Importantly, if the original player himself is released from the squad, he will not be part of the registered pool.
The deadline for franchises to submit the list of replacement cricketers is reportedly August 20.
Iyer has been the captain of the Delhi franchise since taking over from Gautam Gambhir in the middle of IPL 2018. The Indian right-hand batsman led Delhi to their best finish in the league’s history last year, where the Capitals played the summit clash in Dubai, losing to defending champions Mumbai Indians.
Iyer had to be ruled out of IPL 2021 earlier this year because of a shoulder injury that has kept him sidelined from cricketing action since. The player, who picked up the injury while diving to save a run during the ODI series against England in late March, had to also miss India’s limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka in July and his List A stint with Lancashire in the UK.
After an extensive rehabilitation process at the NCA, Iyer was passed fit to play again by the BCCI and NCA medical staff. The 26-year-old has reached UAE well in advance to prepare for the remainder of IPL 2021 and the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to start in October.
It is understood that Iyer reached Dubai on Saturday with DC’s assistant coach Pravin Amre and trainer Rajnikanth Sivagnanam and will be allowed to practise from the next week onwards after the completion of the necessary quarantine.
It is not clear, though, if Iyer will be leading DC in September-October, as the franchise has made no public announcement whether young Rishabh Pant will retain his captaincy post or not.
Natarajan was ruled out of the IPL in April after suffering a sore knee. The Tamil Nadu pacer, who has quickly become an integral part of the Sunrisers’ bowling attack, did his post-surgery rehab at the NCA alongside Iyer and is now fully recovered.
The last IPL season was a breakthrough one for Natarajan, as his 16 wickets from 16 games at an economy rate of 8.62 paved the way for his India selection across formats on the tour of Australia. Initially part of the squad as a reserve bowler only, Natarajan got his opportunities following a spate of injuries in the Indian camp.
Unlike DC, who had Anirudh Joshi replacing Iyer for the Indian leg of IPL 2021, SRH did not name any other player for Natarajan while the tournament was on.
The IPL 2021 was suspended on May 4 after just 29 games due to a cluster of COVID-19 positive cases inside different teams’ bubbles. The tournament will resume in the Middle East on September 19 and be played till October 15, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah hosting matches.
