As Indian Premier League (IPL) is just four days away to lure massive crowds at home, the cash-rich league has witnessed top-class players getting injured prior to the start, and several stars would miss the entire season or couple of matches for their teams respectively, which could be a huge blow for die-hard fans of the cricket extravaganza.
As the list is growing long, an addition has been made when ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was the vital cog for IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in their maiden appearance, was ruled out of the entire season of the tenth edition, after suffering from a sports hernia which has been his long-standing problem.
The Chennai-born spinner Ashwin was advised by doctors to rest for around eight weeks in a bid to attain complete recovery during the rehabilitation process, and this means he would be available for ICC Champions Trophy 2017 which is scheduled in June.
In 13 Tests, Ashwin finished the home season against Australia, Bangladesh, England and New Zealand on top with 82 wickets to his name.
However, the Pune Supergiant would put in a request to seek the able replacement for Ashwin, as there is no clarity whether Nathan Lyon could avail a chance to become the ideal option but the speculations are at high that the spinner is at the forefront to break into the side.
“It could well be skipper Steve Smith’s call if he wants to replace the best Indian spinner with the best Australian spinner. If that happens, it will be interesting to see if Lyon has the same impact as Ashwin,” a source was quoted as saying by Times of India.
Earlier, Lyon, who did well with the ball in the early half of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series was overlooked in the February’s auction by the IPL franchise owners.
Though, it was not the entire call from Ashwin to skip the IPL, it becomes equally important for the Rising Pune Supergiant to find an equally skilled off-spinner and the latest developments had suggested Australian offie could be one of the choices to get inducted into the Pune side.
“There are a lot of ifs and buts to that equation. We will address it as per the situation,” the source added.
In 111 IPL matches, Ashwin has bagged 100 wickets at an average of 24.98. He has also scored 231 runs. On the other side, Lyon has just played one T20I game, that too came against India in January last year.