Injured players whose absence proved costly for teams throughout IPL history

#5 IPL 2013

West Indies' batsman Marlon Samuels featured in two games for Pune Warriors India in the IPL 2013

Two major overseas batsmen make the list. Firstly, it is West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels.

Now it is worth to remember that only a couple of months prior to the competition, Samuels was instrumental in the helping the West Indies seal a comeback win over hosts Sri Lanka in the World T20 2012 final in Colombo.

So it was widely expected that he would turn the fortunes of the new laggards, Pune Warriors India in the IPL.

Unfortunately, Samuels could only turn out for two matches, giving a meagre return of eight runs and one wicket.

He had to fly back home to recover from a groin strain, unable to participate in the rest of the competition. Pune finished eighth out of nine teams that season and never played after that.

England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen has been amongst the most injury-prone players in IPL history

The second batsman is England’s now-retired Kevin Pietersen. Like Pune, Delhi Daredevils too struggled during the season.

It could have to do with the fact that he was ruled out before the tournament began, due to a calf injury.

Pietersen had a huge role to play in Delhi’s 2012 performance that saw them make the playoffs. In 2013 though, they finished at the bottom as the batting suffered tremendously.

This was just the beginning of Pietersen’s struggles with fitness that cut short three more seasons of his in the IPL.

In 2014, Sunrisers Hyderabad couldn’t avail his services and in 2016, Rising Pune Supergiant faced the same fate.

Co-incidentally, in both instances, Pietersen was a victim of a calf injury and both the teams failed miserably while not making it to the playoffs.