IPL 2018: Franchises irked by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins' decision to pullout

Prior to the start of the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), several teams suffered from injury concerns, which have severely disturbed the combination of their lineups. Mitchell Starc and Patrick Cummins, who had been roped in by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Mumbai Indians (MI) respectively, have withdrawn themselves without playing a single game.

The franchises have communicated the same to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Previously, Cricket Australia (CA) made the BCCI aware of the injury status of the cricketers. Meanwhile, one of the franchise officials expressed helplessness in terms of validating the legitimacy of the reports sent by the Australian board.

The next courses of action

“We’ve to believe what they say. We have no way to check the veracity. At this stage, we’re in the midst of the league. So, no time to think about them. But we’ll take it up,” a franchise official was quoted as saying by Bangalore Mirror. Starc was bought for INR 9.4 crores by the Knight Riders and was expected to be a vital cog in their setup.

“Starc was ruled out of the fourth Test against South Africa because of tibial bone stress, which has prevented him from going to IPL. Cummins experienced some back soreness during the fourth Test in South Africa. Follow-up scans have confirmed that he has bone oedema in his vertebrae,” a CA spokesperson mentioned as quoted by the tabloid.

Pat Cummins, who was signed up by Mumbai for INR 5.4 crores, pulled out of the event owing to a back injury. “It is important that Pat has time off bowling, to prevent the injury becoming more serious and consequently we have made the decision to rule Pat out of the IPL,” the official put forth the reasons behind Cummins’ withdrawal.

The tournament is already halfway through and teams can’t afford to mourn over the injuries of their star players. Both Mumbai and Kolkata have had their fair share of troubles having stumbled on quite a few occasions. However, they still have a realistic chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

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