Replacements announced for Phase 2 of the Indian T20 League 2021

Indian T20 League 2021’s first leg was a huge success and the 2nd leg in UAE is expected to be a blockbuster. The 2nd leg of the tournament starts on September 19th and ends on October 15th. The tournament will kick off with Mumbai taking on Chennai. It won’t be easy for the teams as they will have to adapt soon to the UAE conditions.  

One team that does know the conditions really well will be the defending champions Mumbai. Mumbai completely dominated the games in the previous Indian T20 League season which were held in the UAE. However, they still have some work to do if they want to retain the title this year as they are currently at the 4th position in the points table. 

As far as the replacements for the Indian T20 League are concerned, only four franchises have named it so far. The likes of Rajasthan, Bangalore, Kolkata and Punjab do have replacements. There could not be many more replacements named with the tournament only 3 days from start.

Bangalore has already named four replacement players. Indian all rounder Washington Sundar picked up an injury in the warm up fixture in England. He was recently ruled out of the Indian T20 League as well and Bengal cricketer Akash Deep has been named the replacement for him. 

Finn Allen, Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa have all stated their unavailability for the UAE leg of Indian T20 League. Tim David who impressed in the Hundred tournament earned his maiden call up in Indian T20 League as a replacement for Finn Allen. The Sri Lankan duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera meanwhile will replace Zampa and Richardson respectively.

Rajasthan will be the most affected team as their star players of Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler won’t be available throughout the second phase. Glenn Phillips and Tabraiz Shamsi have been named the replacements while there is still no confirmation on Ben Stokes and Andrew Tye. Liam Livingstone has suffered a shoulder injury as well and he could miss out the second phase of Indian T20 League. 

Punjab’s two front line seamers of Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith have stated their unavailability for the second phase of Indian T20 League. Riley Meredith’s replacement has been named as Nathan Ellis who was impressive against Bangladesh for Australia. England spinner Adil Rashid will meanwhile get his first Indian T20 League stint as replacement of Jhye Richardson. 

Kolkata will be missing their most expensive player Pat Cummins for the remainder of Indian T20 League 2021. The Australian all rounder was slowly looking to get into his groove this season in India. He showed his brilliant all round skills as well. The experienced New Zealand seamer Trent Boult has been named as his replacement.

Qualifier 1 will be played on October 10 in Dubai while the eliminator will be held at Sharjah on October 11. The second qualifier will be played at Sharjah on October 13 and the final is scheduled to be held in Dubai on October 15.