With less than a week to go for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to commence, the fans are gearing up to witness 10 teams lock horns to lift the trophy. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have also hit the straps with almost all of their players joining the squad ahead of their opening match against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday (March 24).
Like every year, overseas players have either pulled out or are injured and ruled out of the entire season. MI's Dilshan Madhushanka is already unlikely to play a few matches due to hamstring injury sustained during the second ODI against Bangladesh. Now the latest addition to the list is South Africa pacer Gerald Coetzee who might not play at the start of IPL 2024. He was picked up by MI for INR 5 crore at the auction last year.
Coetzee hasn't played a competitive game since the Boxing Day Test against India in December 2023. During that game, he developed pelvic inflammation and has been on the sidelines since then. After sustaining the injury, Coetzee didn't play even in the SA20 or in the opening rounds of CSA T20.
In fact, he has already joined the MI camp and is understood to be recovering from groin injury according to ESPNCricinfo. Moreover, Mumbai Indians' medical team is looking after him and now is expected to return to action soon. For the unversed, the five-time IPL champions will be led by Hardik Pandya this season and are scheduled to play their first game against runners-up of 2023 edition Gujarat Titans on Sunday (March 24) at ther Narendra Modi Stadum in Ahmedabad.
MI are already expected to miss Madhushanka's services for the first few matches but he is expected to regain full fitness during the season. Meanwhile, former skipper Rohit Sharma is expected to join the MI camp on Monday (March 18) and all eyes will be on his reunion with Hardik Pandya for the first time since ODI World Cup last year.
