| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
New Delhi: With last year's player of the tournament absent due to national commitments, and two others who're among the highest-paid stars also missing, Australia's contingent at the start of the second IPL season will be more notable for who's not playing than those who make the trip to South Africa
There'll still be retired spin bowling great Shane Warne leading the way as captain and coach of the defending champion Rajasthan Royals, but Warne will be missing a key ingredient from last year, player of the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 season Shane Watson.
The 26-year-old Watson, who scored 472 runs at an average of 42 in the IPL last year, has returned from injury and was named in the Australian limited-overs squad for a series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi beginning next Wednesday _ four days after the IPL starts.
Also missing will be troubled allrounder Andrew Symonds, who was been out of the Australian lineup for several months until his recall for the Pakistan series, and fast bowler Brett Lee, who was initially named in squad to play Pakistan but was later ruled out and replaced by Doug Bollinger.
Pakistan players missed at IPL
While Pakistan cricket fans face the prospect of no local stars in the Indian Premier League, leading players haven't given up on rejoining the Twenty20 competition.
The shift from India to South Africa came too late for Pakistani players, who first were barred by their government from traveling to India in the wake of terror attacks in Mumbai, then had their IPL contracts terminated.
Had the switch to South Africa happened earlier, players like Salman Butt, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir could have fulfilled their IPL contracts without contravening the Pakistan government bans.
But the IPL franchises had no other option in February but to either terminate or suspend the contracts of Pakistan players after the required period of acquiring the No Objection Certificate from the respective cricket boards expired.
