Injured players whose absence proved costly for teams throughout IPL history

#8 IPL 2017

Virat Kohli missed out on the first four games of the IPL 2017

As many as five top stars’ absence from this season affected their team’s final outcomes to a huge extent, if not entirely.

Royal Challengers Bangalore were the finalists the previous season but finished at the bottom of the points table in 2017.

The skipper, Virat Kohli missed out on the first four games due to a shoulder injury that he sustained during Australia’s tour of India in March.

Once he returned, he could barely reproduce the form he was in 2016 when he hammered an incredible 981 runs.

Kohli shouldered the responsibility of a batting line-up, unable to fire collectively and perhaps that’s why his returns were diminishing.

While opening batsman KL Rahul missed out on the whole season also due to a shoulder injury. As a result, RCB’s main strength of batting became a burden for them.

Another team that collapsed badly in 2017 was Gujarat Lions.

The Lions also had a notable absentee in all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who couldn’t play the entire season due to a hamstring injury.

Even though Gujarat had impressive overseas players, yet Bravo’s match-winning ability in all departments of the game proved to be irreplaceable eventually. The team finished at the bottom of the points table.

Gujarat Lions were dented badly by the absence of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo

While the Delhi Daredevils could not avail the services of South Africa’s aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton De Kock.

De Kock suffered a finger injury prior to the IPL, during a Test match against New Zealand.

With an impressive showing in the previous seasons, his absence meant that Delhi was perhaps left with no choice but to experiment at the top of the order.

Despite some good and improved batting performances, the side finished sixth in the season and once again, failed to make the playoffs.