Australia will nonetheless be richer for their presence, and the duo's carefully orchestrated reunion with team mates has been smoothed by some cracking performances since their recovery from elbow injuries.
What happens when sports stars have all the free time at hand and no play?
A look at the various batting records in the IPL over the years.
Lauding Chennai Super Kings opener Brendon McCullum's unbeaten 100 in his side's second consecutive win in Indian Premier League-8, SunRisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman said the New Zealender's first ton of the season was a 'special innings'.
Malik had recently played for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and he also ended up recording the fastest delivery of the season.
Ahead of Saturday's event, here's a lowdown of ready references for the auction.
Most of Australia's players have had scant preparation for the Twenty20 World Cup but captain Aaron Finch said his underdone squad can still bring the trophy home for the first time.
A look at how the teams stack up ahead of the mega auction.
Rashid Khan says his focus is not on taking wickets but bowling economically
IPL can be truly said to have come of age. It is now more Indian than ever before. Teams often fielded fewer than the four allowed foreign players. Indian batters and bowlers were simply better in performance, consistency and reliability, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith wants to end his IPL 2019 campaign on a winning note against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 30 before leaving for home to prepare for the upcoming ODI World Cup.
Delhi Capitals batsman Ajinkya Rahane says the last three games were not as per what the team wanted.
Young West Indian pacer Alzarri Joseph described his record-breaking bowling effort on his IPL debut as "unbelievable", saying he will cherish the moment for a long time to come.
IPL 2022 has passed the halfway mark after a month of high action and drama. So how will the second half play out for the teams still in contention for the playoffs?
IPL 2020 has been an exhibition of superb fielding and here are glimpses of some of those efforts...
Mumbai Indians will look to continue their rampaging run when they take on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Rising Pune Supergiants brought their stuttering IPL campaign back on track with a convincing 34-run win over hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad via Duckowrth Lewis method in a rain-affected match.
Despite a superb six-wicket haul by leg-spinner Adam Zampa, Rising Pune Supergiants suffered a narrow four-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL clash to end their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has been ruled out of the fourth Test against South Africa and the upcoming Indian Premier League due to a stress fracture in his leg.
Kolkata Knight Riders possess one of the most destructive batting line-ups in the IPL, something which was on full display during the 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, said skipper Eoin Morgan in Chennai on Sunday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad kept their play-off hopes alive by pulling off a well-deserved seven-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in a thrilling Indian Premier League match that went to the wire at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday.
After being surprisingly handed the ball for the crucial over, Axar conceded only seven runs
The ongoing pay dispute might leave Australia without their top players in the home Ashes series against England later this year, vice-captain David Warner warned.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan could relate to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's recent outburst at the umpire during ab Indian Premier League match as he was in former India captain's shoes exactly 13 months back.
New Zealand Cricket and the BCCI put their heads together and made an exit plan for the Black Caps and Williamson was pretty satisfied with how it panned out.
Facing early elimination, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders need to record a win to stay afloat when they take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Skipper Rohit Sharma says he wants Mumbai Indians to win most of its initial matches this IPL season, as some of his players will leave for World Cup preparations at the back-end of the tournament.
'It's happened before. Not just Virat but there's many players that have come up to IPL time and ... look, we know it's a cash rich tournament, there's some money up for grabs.'
Their pace attack has been the most fearsome this IPL season but Sunrisers Hyderabad swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar feels it would be a tough task for his team to counter the marauding Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen when the two teams clash in the final on Sunday. Hyderabad edged out Gujarat Lions by four wickets on Friday in Qualifier 2 to set up a summit clash with Bangalore, who had beaten the same opponents in Qualifier 1. "We will definitely strategise because I read somewhere the other day that Virat Kohli has scored 35 per cent of RCB's runs. It'll be a big task for us to get (Chris) Gayle, Virat (Kohli) and AB (De Villers) and later, (Shane) Watson, out. We are hoping for a good contest," Bhuvneshwar said at the post match press conference in New Delhi.
As troubling as it was to see Boult leaking so many runs, New Zealand fans might be as much concerned by how little he and his compatriots have played in the marquee Twenty20 tournament this year.
Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was effusive in praise of his side, describing the victory over SunRisers Hyderabad, in the IPL match in Dubai, as a near-perfect show.
Cricket Australia has made an attempt to lure away its key players from the lucrative Indian Premier League by offering them multi-year central contracts, a report has claimed.
The majority of the Australian cricketers currently in the IPL want to fulfil their commitments with their respective franchises even after the tournament's bio-bubble was breached with two players testing positive for COVID-19, the head of the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) said on Tuesday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman pointed out that Ishant's no-ball problem is one of the reasons for his exclusion from the side.
Virat Kohli, with the IPL final left to play, could become the first batman in the history of T20 cricket to score 1,000 runs in a single tournament.
Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad will start favourites when they take on the struggling-for-survival Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League match, in Mohali, on Thursday.
Back-to-back losses denting their confidence, defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their campaign back on track when they take on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
Guptill wants to utilise his time facing Rashid Khan at the nets to prepare for the World Cup game against Afghanistan on June 8.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is all set to resume on Sunday with Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) locking horns against each other.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni roared back to form with a smashing half-century to power RIsing Pune Supergiant to a six-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pune, on Saturday.
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