Withdrawals, and injuries have impacted IPL 2021 greatly so far.
A variety of players have left the IPL, and few teams have suffered more than others.
Among the teams that have suffered, the Rajasthan Royals may feel the worst affected.
Half-way through the tournament, the Rajasthan Royals are left with just four overseas players.
They lost Jofra Archer before the tournament started, Ben Stokes after a couple of games, and Liam Livingstone and Andrew Tye left shortly after.
The Royals are now left with just four overseas players, as the league is reaching the business end.
They tried signing a couple of players, but lost Rassie Van der Dussen due to complications with the visa and NOCs.
The Rajasthan Royals have however secured the services of Gerald Coetze, a South African fast bowler.
Along with the Rajasthan Royals, the Royal Challengers are another IPL side who have lost players this season.
The Royal Challegners Bangalore have lost Adam Zampa, and Kane Richardson, as the two players decided to fly back home before the travel ban took place.
With sides losing players, and the Rajasthan Royals in particular, having a tough time let us look at how previous IPL sides have dealt with player loss.
Rising Pune Supergiant, IPL 2016:
The new IPL franchise led by MS Dhoni got off to a good start in the season, beating the Mumbai Indians in the opening fixture.
The side built a strong batting line-up, with the likes of Dhoni, Steve Smith, Faf Du Plessis, and Kevin Pieterson among some of the big names.
The Indian talent looked pretty good as well, with Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ajinkya Rahane among some of the names.
The opening win however was masked by a series of losses, and the side struggled to move up the points table.
The team struggled, and few games into the season more issues began to pile up.
First, Pune lost Kevin Pieterson as he tore his calf muscle while running a single in a stiff chase against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
A few games later, the inform Faf Du Plessis was ruled out with a broken finger.
The side continued to lose games, and lost Mitchell Marsh, and Steve Smith as well in close time.
Pune was on the verge of elimination when George Bailey, and Usman Khawaja arrived as replacements.
However, with four-star overseas players gone, the loss was too much for Pune.
They got replacements, but struggled in all facets, and had to suffer with more injuries, as MS Dhoni himself played through back, and hamstring issues.
The side eventually finished seventh in their debut season in the IPL.
Gujarat Lions, IPL 2017:
The Gujarat Lions had a better debut than the Rising Pune Supergiant, as they made the playoffs in the 2016 season with ease.
The side built their line-up with some explosive batsman, and handy death bowlers.
They looked very strong, and balanced with both departments in their debut season.
The side was built on similar grounds for 2017, but were hit early in the season.
The bowling took a hit as Dwayne Bravo injured his hamstring during the Big Bash League, ending his IPL season.
Ravindra Jadeja, like the other Indian Test players, had to rest through the initial stages of the season, after a tiring season.
The loss of the two bowlers weakened their bowling considerably, as the side struggled to take wickets.
The Gujarat Lions managed only one wicket in the first two games, and weren’t able to do much better even after Jadeja returned.
The bowling started poorly, but continued to get worse as Andrew Tye injured his shoulder and left mid-season, while he didn’t play to many games initially as well.
Along with Tye, James Faulkner also carried an injury, and was ruled out as the season went on.
The Gujarat Lions bought in Irfan Pathan as a replacement, but the pacer only managed one game, and was a shadow of his former self.
With a poor bowling attack, the Gujarat Lions failed to defend totals throughout the season, and the batting might was their only hope.
The batting however, took a hit as well as the season move on.
Jason Roy left mid-season to play county cricket, and Brendon Mccullum got injured towards the end, adding to the Lions woes.
They struggled throughout, and finished seventh, in what was their final season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore 2017:
The Royal Challengers had a dream season in 2016, dominating sides and making the finals with a magnificent batting line-up.
The side had an in-form Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Shane Watson, and Ab De Villiers, while the bowling had stars like Samuel Badree, and a young Yuzvendra Chahal.
Ahead of IPL 2017, Royal Challengers made some nice buys, purchasing T20I specialist Tymal Mills to strengthen the bowling.
The side also had KL Rahul, who hit good form in the test season, but the young batsman was ruled out of the season at the start of the tournament due to a shoulder injury.
KL Rahul’s injury was the first casualty for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Next, the side missed their captain for the initial part of the season.
Virat Kohli suffered an injury in the Ranchi Test against Australia, and missed the initial part, while Ab De Villiers had an injury of his own.
With Kohli, and De Villiers injured, an out of form Shane Watson led the side, but was nowhere near his best, having been away from the game for a while.
With two of their star batsman, and KL Rahul missing early, the side struggled upfront.
Along with KL Rahul, Bangalore lost young Sarfaraz Khan as well early in the season, and the batting line-up was chopped and changed too many times, leading to lack of consistency.
The bowling took a hit as well with Mitchell Starc announcing his exit from the IPL before the season started.
Ab De Villiers, and Virat Kohli did return, but Bangalore once again lost the services of Ab De Villiers towards the back end of the season.
Injuries kept hampering the side, as they lost players at different stages.
The last was Tymal Mills, who only managed five games.
The situation was a grim one, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore had a tough time, winning only three games in the season.
They faced several lows, including a 49 all-out against Kolkata, and they had to deal with a struggling Chris Gayle.
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