Well, the 16th season of the IPL is just around the corner. Barring the SA and WI players most participants have arrived for their franchises. The tournament after a long gap of three seasons is back with its home-away avatar. But the league before its commencement is already enduring injury issues of its ace players.

Particularly teams like RCB, MI and CSK have at least lost two cricketers for the entire season. Explicitly in RCB’s case, top guns like Maxwell, Hazlewood and Patidar are battling fitness concerns. Though each franchise is seeking injury replacements, losing match winners inevitably means big boots to fill.

Therefore in this list, let’s check out 5 teams who have lost their ace players because of injuries.

1. MI- Jasprit Bumrah

Certainly, the loss of Jasprit Bumrah for MI is a big void to fill. Since his debut in IPL 2013, the ace pacer will be missing his first IPL season. Even MI after a decade long will miss its premier fast bowler. Though earlier Bumrah was anticipated to play in IPL 2023, the surgery has ruled him out till August. The 29-year-old from August 2023 is expected to resume his training and start bowling.

However, this cricketer’s absence means the envisioned Bumrah-Archer pairing will again take a hiatus. Sadly barring Mumbai’s ace pacer, the team has also lost Jhye Richardson for the entire season. Like Bumrah, even Jhye has undergone surgery to fix his hamstring issues.

Overall in IPL 2023, MI now has a depleted pace bowling artillery. The likes of Jofra Archer and Jason Behrendorff will have to carry the heavy duties. Luckily the franchise has some reasonable all-rounder seamers like Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar and Ramandeep Singh. All in all, especially for their home games, MI might lack the apt bowling resources to win.

2. DC- Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant’s horrific car accident on December 30th has brought an unprecedented loss for DC. The skipper of the Delhi franchise will not only miss IPL 2023 but also maybe the next season. So far the southpaw after his accident had torn three ligaments in his knee. Currently, the ligaments in his knee have been reconstructed through surgery.

However, for Pant’s replacement, Delhi has been seeking to have uncapped Abhishek Porel. The franchise has also announced David Warner as the stand-in skipper. For glovework, Sarfaraz Khan is expected to be the frontline wicketkeeper batter.

Overall, Pant’s absence from DC’s playing XI will be a massive opportunity for the local talent to thrive. Hopefully, the fans of this franchise will expect Warner to captain just like in his SRH days.

3. KKR- Shreyas Iyer

Unfortunately, the KKR skipper has been enduring a lower-back injury since December 2022. The injury agonizingly has been a recurring one that has forced Iyer to be very careful. Currently, the 28-year-old has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 for the first half. The medical experts have asked the cricketer to rest and rehab. Eventually, if the injury still sustains then surgery will be the only option.

Now in Iyer’s absence, the Kolkata management has named Nitish Rana as the interim skipper. The southpaw as a captaincy prospect had qualified Delhi to the quarter-finals of SMAT. The leadership also allowed Rana to emerge as the second-highest scorer for his team. Nevertheless, to accompany Rana, Kolkata has the minds of veterans like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine to support.

Overall, KKR in IPL 2023 also has a new head coach in the name of Chandrakant Pandit. Optimistically the franchise would prefer starting on a winning note against PBKS on April 1st.

4.RCB- Josh Hazlewood

Irrefutably, this Aussie speedster has been outstanding in the IPL for the past two seasons. Last year for RCB, Hazlewood was one of their biggest match-winner. From his 12 games, the pacer scalped 20 wickets. Cumulatively since IPL 2021, Hazlewood has picked 31 wickets from 21 matches.

But in IPL 2023, the 32-year-old cricketer is expected to miss the first half. Sadly for the last two months, Hazlewood has got Achilles Tendonitis. Even in the recent Border-Gavaskar series, the Aussie was sent back home for rehab. Overall bitterly since the start of the new year, Hazlewood hasn’t played any cricket.

Nevertheless, the Bangalore team have Reece Topley who can directly replace Hazlewood. The English pacer in the shortest format has been amongst the wickets, especially in T20Is. Overall, Hazlewood’s injury shouldn’t disturb RCB from playing its best combination.

5. RR- Prasidh Krishna

Last year, Prasidh Krishna for RR was one of their premier pacers. The bowler in his 17 games in IPL 2022 scalped 19 wickets. The pink army to bag Krishna’s services had spent a lofty price of INR 10 Crore. But unfortunately, the 27-year-old won’t be available for the entire 2023 IPL.

Because of a lumbar stress fracture, Krishna hasn’t played any cricket since August 2022. To replace him, the management has roped in Sandeep Sharma for INR 50 Lakh. Thankfully as RR is adequately equipped with quality Indian bowlers, their best playing XI won’t need many changes. Someone like Kuldeep Sen will directly replace Krishna in the playing XI.

Overall, yet again like the last season, RR is deemed to be the favourite for winning IPL 2023. Their well-settled team also allows them to be equally potent while playing away games as well.