IPL 2021 state of play, England stars in action, who’s missing and more

The rescheduled Indian Premier League is due to get underway later this month, with a total of 31 games left to play.

The tournament initially began back in April, with Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore beating the reigning champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets in the opening game.

However, with the coronavirus crisis worsening in India and a rise of cases within team bubbles, the IPL was postponed in May.

It has been rescheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates, with the remaining games getting played across September and October.

Here is everything you need to know about the IPL.

What is the state of play?

Currently, the Delhi Capitals are top of the table with 12 points, having won six of their eight games so far.

Just behind them with ten points are the Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have both played seven games.

They are followed by the defending champions Mumbai Indians, who have eight points, and Rajasthan Royals, who are on six.

Punjab Kings also have six points but, along with Delhi Capitals, they have played eight games.

The final two teams are Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, who desperately need to find some form.

Delhi Capitals opener Shikhar Dhawan is currently the tournament's leading run scorer, having hit 380 runs at an average of 54.28 and a strike-rate of 134.27.

The only other batters to pass the 300-run mark are KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis and Prithvi Shaw.

The current leading wicket-taker is Royal Challengers Bangalore's Harshal Patel, who has picked up 17 at an average of 15.11.

Avesh Khan, Chris Morris, Rahul Chahar and Rashid Khan have also taken at least ten wickets in the competition so far.

Dhawan is also currently ranked as the tournament's MVP, closely followed by all-rounders Ravi Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Chris Morris.

With the tournament now moved to the UAE, the remaining games will be played across three grounds in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi – the same grounds that the 2020 edition of the IPL were staged in.

Supporters will also be able to attend these games in limited numbers, with the tournament resuming on September 19 with Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians.

The group stages will end on October 8, with the first qualifier scheduled for October 10.

There will then be an eliminator and a second qualifier match before the final on October 15

Who's not there?

A number of players who featured in the first leg of the IPL have pulled out of the remainder of the tournament due to a variety of different reasons.

Some players have suffered injuries, while others have cited bubble fatigue and the packed cricket schedule as reasons for their withdrawal.

Six England stars have pulled out, with Rajasthan Royals losing Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.

Archer has been ruled out for the rest of the year with an elbow problem, Stokes is on an indefinite break from cricket and Buttler has opted to spend more time with his family after his wife recently gave birth to their second child.

Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Dawid Malan have also withdrawn, with all three choosing to take a break ahead of a busy winter schedule which involves the T20 World Cup and the Ashes.

Rajasthan have also lost Australian seamer Andrew Tye and brought in Glenn Phillips, Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas and Tabraiz Shamsi as replacements.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have replaced Bairstow with West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford, Ben Dwarshius has been drafted in as Delhi Capitals' replacement for Woakes and Punjab Kings have replaced Malan with Aiden Markram.

They have also lost Australian quicks Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson, bringing in England spinner Adil Rashid and Nathan Ellis as replacements.

Who will win this year's IPL? Let us know in the comments section

Kolkata Knight Riders have also suffered a big name loss, with Pat Cummins opting out of the tournament and getting replaced by Tim Southee.

Uncapped England prospect George Garton has also been drafted in as one of five replacement players at Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Along with Sri Lankan stars Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera, Singapore batter Tim David and spinner Akash Deep, Garton is hoping to bolster a side which has lost Finn Allen, Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson and Washington Sundar.

Which England stars are there?

Despite the six withdrawals, there are ten English players who will be involved at the IPL, with Rashid and Garton brought in as replacements.

Rashid joins Chris Jordan at Punjab Kings, while the withdrawal of Archer, Stokes and Buttler means Liam Livingstone is now the only England star at Rajasthan Royals.

Sam Curran and Moeen Ali have both been very important to the Chennai Super Kings side and they will be in action.

England's white ball captain Eoin Morgan will be in charge of Kolkata Knight Riders, having taken over from Dinesh Karthik midway through the tournament.

Jason Roy is also in contention for Sunrisers Hyderabad, having been drafted in as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh who pulled out before the tournament began.

How can I watch the IPL?

Sky Sports will be airing every game live predominantly on their dedicated Sky Sports Cricket channel.

Some games will also be available on Sky Sports Main Event, while others will be available on Sky Sports Mix or the Red Button.

You can also stream games live via the Sky Go app if you are a Sky Sports subscriber.

If not, you can purchase a Sky Sports streaming pass through Now TV.

What are the full squads?

Chennai Super Kings

MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore, Krishanappa Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishanth

Overseas stars: Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Sam Curran, Josh Hazlewood.

Delhi Capitals

Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, Shreays Iyer, Kulwant Khejroliya

Overseas stars: Tom Curran, Ben Dwarshius, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje

Kolkata Knight Riders

Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Harbhajan Singh, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi

Overseas stars: Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Cutting

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Yudhvir Singh

Overseas stars: Adam Milne, Chris Lynn, Jimmy Neesham, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock, Trent Boult

Punjab Kings

KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Shahrukh Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar

Overseas stars: Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Jordan, Aiden Markram, Nathan Ellis, Moises Henriques, Fabian Allen, Adil Rashid

Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Dube, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh

Overseas stars: David Miller, Glenn Phillips, Tabraiz Shamsi, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Liam Livingstone, Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmad, Navdeep Saini, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, KS Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Harshal Patel

Overseas stars: AB de Villiers, George Garton, Tim David, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Dushmantha Chameera

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Singh, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Sreevats Goswami, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Kedar Jadhav, Jagadeesha Suchith, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem

Overseas stars: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Jason Roy, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sherfane Rutherford

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