Getting off the cricket gravy train

The Indian Premier League may not been equally kind to all players. Some may not play the whole course of the six-week tournament - injuries and prior commitments be blamed.

CRICKETNDTV.com takes a look at them.

Australia

Andrew Symonds, Matthew Hayden (Hyderabad), Ricky Ponting (Kolkata), Michael Hussey (Chennai), Simon Katich and Brett Lee (Mohali) will have to cut their Indian sojourn short to two weeks. They have to be back in Australia for a preparatory camp before their Caribbean tour.

Then there's Nathan Bracken. The Australian seam-and-swing specialist had been picked up by Bangalore. But he underwent a knee surgery late in March after finding out that an injury had acquired career-ending proportions. Rehab might take 10 weeks, which puts his participation in the IPL in serious doubt.

New Zealand

Daniel Vettori (Delhi), Brendon McCullum (Kolkata), Jacob Oram (Chennai), Ross Taylor (Bangalore) and Kyle Mills (Mohali) will not be available after May 1. They have a tour of England coming up.

West Indies

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Bangalore), Chris Gayle (Kolkata), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Mohali) may have to go home to do national duty in the Tests against Australia.

South Africa

South African cricketers have much on their plate. After their Tests against India, they may have to fly home to play in their domestic Twenty20 event, which ends on April 25.

The players include Dale Steyn (Bangalore), Albie Morkel and Makhaya Ntini (Chennai), AB de Villiers (Delhi), Herschelle Gibbs (Hyderabad), Loots Bosman, Ashwell Prince (Mumbai), Graeme Smith and Morne Morkel (Rajasthan).
For Smith, Darren Lehmann, the former Australia batsman, has been called as replacement.
However, some franchisees were confident that these players will be available for the full length of the IPL.

Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf

The Pakistan batsman is in legal trouble with the Indian Cricket League, who claim that Yousuf hasn't respected his contract with them. With the verdict on the case pending till April 30, we do not know if Yousuf would be picked up by an IPL franchisee. In fact, no team had bid for him during the two auctions.

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga

The Lankan pace bowler with the head turning get-up and toe-crunching Yorker would have been an asset to the IPL's popularity. However, he is struggling with a knee injury and was rested from Sri Lanka's ongoing tour of the West Indies. He had been picked by Mumbai Indians to play alongside country mates Sanath Jayasuriya and Dilhara Fernando. It remains to be seen whether he would make it.