Glenn Maxwell looked set to play his first international fixture of the year but an elbow issue has ruled him out of the South Africa tour. The star all-rounder will undergo an elbow surgery on Thursday which will rule him out of action for six to eight weeks.
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It clearly means that Maxwell will also miss the initial stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is likely to start on March 29. Fit or not, he could have anyways missed the first few matches due to international fixtures but now, the elbow issue will keep him away from the action.
The update comes as a big blow for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). The franchise had bought him for a huge amount of Rs 10.75 and with Maxwell unavailable, KXIP will have a tough task to find a suitable replacement in playing XI for the initial stage of the tournament.
Maxwell is expected to be available from the second week of the league. The upcoming season will be a comeback season for him. Maxwell didn’t play IPL 2019 to prepare for World Cup.
Other Australian players who are likely to miss the initial stage of IPL –
Apart from Maxwell, likes of David Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins and other Australia’s T20 players will miss first few matches of IPL due to international commitments.s Australia host New Zealand in a limited-overs series in next month. The series ends on March 29.
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It also means that New Zealand’s players will also miss a couple of IPL matches due to international commitments.
BCCI hasn’t yet announced IPL fixtures due to this very reason and there can be a case when the board might push the league to the first week of April, which will see almost every player being part of IPL 2020 right from the inception.