Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Australian player Adam Zampa will miss the opening match against Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League as the leg-spinner is all set to get married.
RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson confirmed the same, saying it is something the franchise is aware of and respects.
“We won’t have our full contingent of overseas players available for the first game. Adam Zampa is getting married. It’s an important time for him and it’s something that as a franchise we are aware of and we respect and we hope he has a great time. So when he joins us, once again he is going to be fresh and make a massive contribution to the rest of the tournament,” Hesson said in a video.
“We have got eight good overseas options, we are making sure that we are firing and functioning for the entire tournament not just trying to push guys for the first game,” he added.
RCB will take on Mumbai Indians on April 9 when the 14th edition of the IPL kicks off in Chennai. All matches will be played at neutral venues, and no team will play at their home venue.
The Virat Kohli-led Bangalore side will begin its training camp on March 29, and players are expected to arrive through April 1. South African star batsman AB de Villiers will arrive on March 28, he added.
“We have got players arriving all the way through till April 1. Finn Allen will be playing in T20I in New Zealand on April 1 and then he will come the day after... ABD arrives on 28,” he said.
Hesson also revealed that the team has had to prepare differently this time when compared to last year when the IPL was staged in the UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is very different than the last year where we had everybody together for a long period of time on the back of a period where the guys had not trained or played. So, this time it is different, we got players playing international cricket over here and overseas and domestic cricket up until a hand full of days ago. So, we had to prepare in slightly different ways.”
The final of the 2021 IPL will be played on May 30.
