Cricket's unsustainable schedule: Injuries taking joy out of big tournaments like IPL

The IPL season is upon us, yet the focus is completely on teams scrambling to replace injured players. With some of the stars managing their workload and delaying their arrival, the excitement has been watered down. Is the packed cricket schedule to blame for this?

The 2026 season of the Indian Premier League was expected to carry forward the momentum of a thrilling T20 World Cup, with fans anticipating another high-octane two months of cricket.

Instead, just days before the tournament, there is a lingering sense of unfulfilment. Injuries, workload management and player unavailability have begun to dominate the build-up, leaving several teams without key names at the start of the season.

Before the season even started, seven foreign players have either been ruled out or are set for a delayed start to their IPL campaigns. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are all coming in late, while Nathan Ellis is out. Sam Curran, too, is reportedly unavailable. Cummins and Hazlewood will miss the starting few games of IPL 2026. (Reuters Photo)

Lockie Ferguson will not be available for the first phase of the IPL, as he is set to spend time with his wife and newborn child, which is an understandable call. But the sheer number of absences leading into the IPL this year has been unprecedented.

It almost feels like teams are scrambling for replacements rather than getting their squads settled. KKR were able to breathe a sigh of relief once Matheesha Pathirana was cleared, but they are still looking for a replacement for Harshit Rana.

SRH do not appear 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 were clear in their briefing that it was down to workload management.