The 2026 season of the Indian Premier League was expected to bring the momentum of the exciting T20 World Cup, with fans anticipating another two months of high-octane cricket.
Instead, just days before the tournament, a sense of unfulfillment lingers. Injuries, workload management and player unavailability began to dominate the lineup, leaving several teams without key names early in the season.
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Ahead of the start of the season, seven foreign players have either been suspended or have had their IPL campaigns delayed. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are late arrivals, while Nathan Ellis is out. Sam Curran is also reportedly unavailable. Cummins and Hazlewood will miss the opening few games of IPL 2026. (Photo by Reuters)
Lockie Ferguson will not be available for the first phase of the IPL as he will be spending time with his wife and newborn child, an understandable call. But the sheer number of absences leading up to the IPL this year was unprecedented.
It almost seems like teams are looking for replacements rather than settling their teams. KKR could breathe a sigh of relief once Matheesha Pathirana was cleared, but they are still looking for a replacement for Harshit Rana.
SRH don’t seem to be the same without Pat Cummins at the helm, while RCB and DC’s bowling attacks look weaker in the absence of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Cricket Australia made it clear in their briefing that this is workload management.
So at this point, you have to ask yourself: is the busy schedule draining the players and making them more prone to injury?
WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE?
When it comes to the IPL, India, Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa are considered to be the major contributors of players to the league. Looking at the rosters for these five teams over the last year and the assignments lined up for this one will make it clearer why the players parted ways. All five teams participated in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
India has hardly had a breather since 2025 till now. Right after the IPL last season, they toured against England in a five-Test series before heading to Australia for a white-ball tour of ODIs and T20Is later in the year. The team also played in the Asia Cup, after which they faced the West Indies at home. They then hosted South Africa for the entire multi-format series and competed in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 earlier in the year. The schedule remained relentless in 2026. After facing New Zealand in the ODI and T20I series, they defended their T20 World Cup crown ahead of the IPL.
India will now host Afghanistan, travel to Ireland for a short T20I series, and again on a tour of England for white-ball duties. The year will also include home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, before an away tour to New Zealand, making it almost a year-round cycle of cricket.
England’s calendar over the course of two years revolved around marquee competitions and busy domestic years. They hosted India in a five-Test series in 2025, faced South Africa in white-ball cricket and later faced Australia in the 2025–26 Ashes. They also appeared in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. In 2026, England will host several teams including India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka across formats during a busy home summer. How much cricket is too much cricket? (Photo: PTI)
South Africa balanced global events and bilateral commitments over the course of both years. In 2025, they appeared in the 2025 World Test Championship final against Australia, toured England for the white-ball series, traveled to India for a full tour and also faced Australia in another limited-overs assignment, alongside their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. The 2026 calendar will continue in a similar vein, including bilateral series a year later and major Tests in Australia.
In addition to their bilateral assignments, New Zealand reached the finals of both the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. They hosted Pakistan in 2025 and later welcomed Australia and England during the home summer. They began the 2026 tour of India and followed it up with a strong World Cup campaign. Their schedule for the rest of the year includes a bilateral series against South Africa and continued home matches against big teams like England and Australia.
Australia’s schedule for 2025 and 2026 has been anchored by major Test commitments and global tournaments. In 2025, they faced South Africa in the final of the 2025 World Test Championship, hosted India in a white-ball series and played South Africa in another limited-overs competition. The year ended with the 2025-26 Ashes against England. In 2026, Australia took part in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and will travel to South Africa for a crucial Test series, while hosting the likes of Bangladesh and New Zealand.
In fact, the Australian Test team is scheduled to play a total of 21 matches in the next 12 months, including the tour of India and the Ashes series in England. This will be followed by the defense of the ODI World Cup title.
Now consider this for all regular members and then add the presence of T20 leagues like ILT20, SA20, Vitality Blast, The Hundred and Big Bash League. Player burnout is almost inevitable.
LACK OF DEPTH FOR TEAMS
For a side like India, the depth is strong enough to allow them to field second-tier teams for events such as the Asian Games and the tour of Ireland. This is not the case with a party like Australia. This was seen during the T20 World Cup where Australia struggled with injury concerns and crashed out in the group stage.
Cummins and Hazlewood opted to retain themselves for Test duties, while Starc has already retired from T20Is in 2025. This meant Australia’s relatively inexperienced line-up struggled to cope with the demands of the ICC event.
This is the case with most major parties. Take Mitchell Santner from the New Zealand side and the impact is immediate. The same goes for Harry Brooke for England and Aiden Markram for South Africa. Starc will be another name missing from the first few games of IPL 2026. (Photo: Reuters)
WHAT NEXT?
If players continue to withdraw, the bigger issue will be the drop in quality in tournaments like the IPL. With teams forced to find replacements, the overall impact likely won’t be the same.
While there are options to fill the gaps, few can replicate what a primary player brings. Harshit Rana is a prime example, with KKR eyeing the likes of Simarjeet Singh, KM Asif, Navdeep Saini and Akash Madhwal as replacements.
They all have IPL experience but replacing a player with 34 wickets in his last 26 matches is no easy task.
So the ball is once again in the ICC’s court when it comes to planning. The cramming of matches doesn’t help anyone and tournaments like the IPL deserve to feature the best names.
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
20 March 2026 19:04 IST
