Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has asked the Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners to be stricter with overseas players who join the tournament late without proper reasons.
Australia stars who miss early part of IPL 2026
The IPL 2026 is scheduled to start from March 28, but several teams are still unsure about when their key foreign players will arrive. Cricket Australia has already confirmed that fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will miss the early part of the tournament due to workload management.
Hazlewood and Cummins have also been dealing with injuries for some time. Hazlewood missed both the Ashes and the T20 World Cup, while Cummins played only one match against England and skipped the T20 World Cup. Starc, on the other hand, played the full Ashes series but hasn’t featured in any competitive cricket since January 2026. Cricket Australia is being cautious with him because of a busy Test schedule ahead, where Australia will play Bangladesh, New Zealand and India.
Gavaskar on players who will miss IPL without any reason
However, Gavaskar is not happy with this approach. He believes such last-minute changes can seriously affect a team’s planning and chances of success. According to him, unless franchise owners take a firm stand, some players will continue to take things lightly.
“There is also the usual taking the franchise for granted issue with some overseas players, who are not going to be available for non-injury and personal reasons. The owners of the franchises go out of their way to accommodate their players, often paying for families to come and spend time with the players at no cost to the millionaire players, mind you. It’s the Indian way and hospitality, which often is misunderstood as a right by some and who then try to take advantage of the situation,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“We are already hearing about some players who will not be available for a variety of reasons, none of which were informed before they were selected by the franchise. Unless franchise owners start to get tough and drop these players, they will find themselves being hampered in their efforts to win the title. All the planning in forming the squad, which they believe can help them win, goes out of the window when players decide to come whenever they want,” he added.
The IPL 2026 season will kick off with a match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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“Still, it promises to be the tournament that even the carpers secretly keep a tab on and one where the evenings till 31st May will be like hardly ever seen before,” Gavaskar wrote.
Players who miss IPL 2026 due to injuries
Meanwhile, a few players are set to miss the IPL 2026 season due to injuries. Rajasthan Royals will be without Sam Curran, while Kolkata Knight Riders will miss the services of Akash Deep and Harshit Rana. Matheesha Pathirana is also expected to join his team late as he continues to recover from injury.