IPL 2023: Jhye Richardson Officially Ruled Out of the Upcoming Season

Mumbai Indians’ injury woes continue ahead of the upcoming 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) as Jhye Richardson has been ruled out of the entire competition due to a hamstring issue. He underwent surgery and it is likely that he will be ruled out of the Ashes, which is scheduled to be held in England later this year. 

This fresh injury scare will be a concern for the five-time IPL winners as the team’s stocks have depleted with the absence of two of their star pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson. Since Richardson was left out of Australia’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against India, it was speculated that he might miss this year’s IPL. On March 11, Richardson posted a tweet from his account which confirmed that he has undergone surgery, which rules him out for a sufficient amount of time.

“Injuries are a big part of cricket, that’s a fact. Frustrating? Absolutely. But I’m now in a scenario where I can get back to doing what I love and work bloody hard to become an even better player than before. One step back, two steps forward. Let’s do this,” Jhye Richardson tweeted.

IPL 2023: Early Setback for Mumbai

Injuries have continued to haunt Richardson throughout his professional career. In 2019, he was forced out of cricketing action due to shoulder surgery and that forced him to miss the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the Ashes. The Western Australia pacer suffered the latest injury during the 2023-23 season of the Big Bash League. He missed out on the majority of the BBL season for Perth Scorchers.

However, the Cricket Australia selectors were convinced that he would get fit for the ODI series in India. But after going through the surgery process, it’ll take a bit more time for him to make his on-field comeback. Reacting to the devastating news, Richardson’s domestic coach Adam Voges said:

“Obviously it’s devastating that he has re-injured that hamstring again and he is going to miss a significant amount of time to get his hamstring right. We all feel for Jhye and we’re hopeful that whatever they come with as a solution can fix his hamstring and we get him back out there because it has been a tough 12 months for him.” 

Even before the start of the season, Rohit Sharma and Co. have dealt two major blows with Bumrah and Richardson being ruled out. No replacements have been announced thus far but sooner or later the management will have to take a call to bring in replacements for their injured players.