Injured Broad and Mascarenhas out of IPL

Stuart Broad's side strain will sideline him from the IPL © AFP Enlarge

Kings XI Punjab will be replacing England allrounder and in their squad for the 2011 IPL, as both players are unavailable for the tournament due to injuries, a franchise official has said. Broad picked up a side strain during the World Cup, while Mascarenhas has not yet recovered from surgery to fix his achilles injury.

"We are still in the process of identifying their replacements," Aravinder Singh, the chief operating officer for Punjab, told ESPNcricinfo. "I am in touch with the coach and the captain."

Under IPL rules, the replacements have to be chosen from the pool of players who went unsold in the January auction, and cannot be paid more than the players they are replacing, though they can be paid less, depending on their base price in the auction. This limits the choice of players to those whose base price is equivalent to, or less than, the players being replaced. Broad was bought for $400,000 while Mascarenhas was bought for $100,000. Both replacements will be for the 2011 season only.

Punjab opens the tournament on April 10 against Sahara Pune Warriors at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. The team began its preparations for the tournament on Monday with a six-day fitness camp at the HPCA Stadium, with the final camp for the full team to be held at Mohali from April 2 to April 8.

Mumbai Indians have also signed a replacement player, according to a BCCI statement listing the players in each team, with Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando coming in for Australia fast bowler Clint Mckay, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot in January. Pune are the only team to sign the full complement of 30 players, while the Kolkata Knight Riders have the fewest players on their roster with 20. The defending champions Chennai Super Kings have 23 players.

The Deccan Chargers, who have 27 players in their squad, still have US $1.49 million out of their allotted $9 million, the most of any franchise, while Punjab has approximately $1.46 million left over. Rajasthan Royals, whose salary cap was reduced by a court order, have spent all of their money. The Mumbai Indians, one of two teams to retain the maximum four players, have $1739 remaining. Chennai, the other team to keep four players, have $15,435 left over.