IPL 2024: Mystery continues over fitness of star Indian players

The Indian Premier League begins this week but there is still a lot of uncertainty over the readiness of a number of star Indian names, putting a spanner in the works of the franchises and even the national team.

World No1 T20 batsman Suryakumar Yadav is struggling to be fit in time for the start of the IPL. The Mumbai Indians batsman has been out of action since December after undergoing ankle and hernia surgery. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and is yet to receive the all clear from the medical panel.

Yadav is the most important member of Mumbai's batting line-up and new captain Hardik Pandya will need every resource available as he needs a positive start to calm the nerves of a fanbase that has been antagonised by the clandestine change of leadership.

There are more such cases across the IPL. India middle order batsman Shreyas Iyer - star of their ODI World Cup campaign - has been in and out of the cricket field recently due to a back injury that affected his place in the team, resulted in confusion over his availability for domestic cricket, cost him a central contract and has now put a question mark over his fitness for Kolkata Knight Riders, where he is the captain.

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