Delhi Daredevils have lost captain Gautam Gambhir to a hamstring injury, Rajasthan Royals’ South African import Graeme Smith has flown back with a “double fracture” in his right-hand finger and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni can’t play for Chennai Super Kings for at least the next 10 days due to an elbow problem.

English all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, another Rajasthan Royals player, hurt his ankle and he too would miss the event from now on and how many more end up with niggles and injuries will be known only after the league draws to a close next month.

Players getting injured during a tournament is nothing new or unheard of but would be adding to the anxiety of their respective boards is the fact that the breakdowns are happening just a couple of months before the Twenty20 World Championship in the West Indies.

At a time when cricketers don’t really have an off season to look forward to, sustaining peak fitness is a huge challenge and only a few like Australian captain Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke have been able to turn their back on the lure of IPL’s fast cash and keep themselves fresh for international commitments.

The temptation of millions for just six weeks of cricket is too big to ignore for most of the players but they end up risking their fitness in a hectic tournament.

A case in point is Australian pacer Brett Lee, who came to play for Kings XI Punjab despite a recently-repaired elbow but had to ultimately fly back home for further treatment after failing to recover in time.

Last year’s Twenty20 World Championships missed the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen after they got injured during the IPL and the frequency at which players are heading to hospitals in this edition again raises a question about how many of the top names would be fit for the showpiece event this year.

It’s a debate that has forever raged in international football where players have been accused of risking their all for cash-rich clubs and not being at their best for national duty.

Going by the look of things, cricket too seems set for such a debate.

Defending champions India were eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup by England on Sunday. Afterwards captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said fatigue was a factor while Kirsten went a step further saying players had carried injuries into the tournament.

“A lot of those niggles were picked up during the IPL,” Kirsten told reporters at the team hotel. “We lose contact with our players during the IPL because they are connected and responsible to their franchises and the players take a lot of pride representing their franchises as well.

“The bottom line was the amount of cricket that was being played and the amount of niggles that came into this tournament. Maybe we need to consider pulling players out, but whether that is possible I don’t know.”

The international schedule around next year’s IPL is likely to be even tighter with the International Cricket Council staging another Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies in April, the period when the IPL has been staged in the past two years.

India lost their explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag without playing a match because of a shoulder injury while Zaheer Khan missed the start of the tournament after sustaining a shoulder injury in the IPL.

If fast bowler Ishant Sharma is rested from the IPL he could lose a large portion of his $900,000 contract. Dhoni, himself, is on $1.35 million and opener Gautam Gambhir is on $750,000.

Kirsten also said because of the amount of cricket being played teams now needed to use bigger squads.

The NZC board voted on Thursday to welcome back any returning players without any stand-down period on the condition they had severed all ties with the unofficial ICL.

“Like other Boards around the world we have had to clarify our position on how to deal with former ICL players who wish to return to international cricket,” Vaughan said in a statement.

“We consider ours is a reasonable policy. Individual players need to make their own decisions over their future with the ICL.

“Today’s decision is by no means a guarantee of selection for any player — all former ICL players would need to earn their way back into the national side on merit.”

The decision means New Zealand’s former ICL players would be considered for inclusion in the national team as early as August, when they tour Sri Lanka.

“Many of the ICL players have had limited cricket over the past 12 months and there has been no ICL cricket played since 2008,” Vaughan said.

“The earliest time former ICL players would be eligible for selection is in August, which would amount to almost 12 months since the last ICL event.

“Taking all these factors into account the Board felt there was little justification for a further stand-down period.”

New Zealand lost nine international players to the ICL and Vaughan said they were keen to get all of their best players back.

Vaughan said pacemen Shane Bond and Darryl Tuffey had both already indicated their willingness to return to the New Zealand national side.

“There’s no question that New Zealand suffered heavily from the ICL,” he said. “Our national side lost a significant number of top players.”

The ICL is a privately run Twenty20 competition held in India.

It features several former international players from around the world but is not officially sanctioned by the International Cricket Council.

Most international players who signed up were banned from selection by their national boards after complaints from the Indian cricket board (BCCI), which runs its own fully-sanctioned Twenty20 competition.

Earlier this week, the BCCI agreed to grant amnesty to welcome back their players who had signed with the ICL, paving the way for other countries to follow suit.

“The Indian players are now in a situation where they play two high-pressure Twenty20 tournaments, back-to-back and that’s never ideal,” Vengsarkar said.

“It’s the job of administrators to ensure that the players are fresh and ready. Otherwise, there is the possibility of a cricket overkill in India,” he was quoted as saying.

The former batsman felt coach Gary Kirsten would require to lift the tired-looking Team India in time for their first warm-up game at Lord’s against New Zealand on June 1.

“It’s a big challenge for Kirsten and his support staff to manage this task. I hope they can pull it off because resting the players completely can’t also be done at this point of time.

“There are just a few days to go and the players have to practice to maintain their form, fitness and match rhythm, which is so important in Twenty20 cricket,” he said.

The former chief selector advised the BCCI to revise the schedule and format of the IPL so that players could remain fit for international commitments.

“The IPL schedule (37 days this year and 44 days last year) is simply too long and I feel very strongly about it.

“It affects the fitness and form of players for major international events. And there are always chances of mental fatigue creeping in.

“One possible solution is to have 10 teams in the IPL playing nine matches each for a maximum of around 25-30 days. I think that’s the way to go about it, from the players’ perspective,” he added.

India play Pakistan in their second warm-up game at the Oval on June 3 before leaving for Trent Bridge to play their preliminary matches against Bangladesh on June 6 and Ireland on June 10.

Dhoni also said the just-concluded Indian Premier League extravaganza in South Africa was more beneficial for his side because it provided players with exposure and helped them to learn coping with the pressure of an international event.

“I am happy with the balance in our squad. Hopefully, we can defend out title,” a jaded-looking Dhoni said at a press conference.

“When you play so many matches you do get tired, after all its a human body, but it (IPL) helped us a lot in terms of exposure and skills. So it was more beneficial for us,” he said.

“It’s very important to cope with the pressure in international events specially in the Twenty20 where you do not get time to recover and IPL helped the players handle that well,” he added.

Dhoni also said he did not feel the need of a pre-tournament camp after the IPL drill.

“It’s not important to have a camp (when you have already got enough practice in match conditions),” he said.

New South Wales, one of the Australian participants, may lose David Warner, who is likely to stick to Delhi Daredevils in the 12-team tournament to be held in India in October.

To retain the services of big hitting Warner, Delhi will have to pay around $250,000 to NSW.

This money NSW are expected to would offer to Kiwi team Otago to secure the services of explosive Brendon McCullum, who led Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL-II.

However it will be interesting to see which side McCullum chooses to represent. The organizers have left it to players to choose the side they wish to play for.

McCullum is eligible to play for NSW because he played for the Blues in last season’s domestic final against Victoria.

“There is no doubt having Brendon McCullum in your team increases your chances of a win, that is an undeniable fact. It’s about ensuring we have got all the bases covered. [Making Otago an offer] is certainly something we will consider. It is a cost-neutral exercise,” NSW chief executive David Gilbert told ‘Sydney Morning Herald’.

Otago chief executive Ross Dykes also hinted that deal could materialise.

“Given the fact he has played for them in the last 12 months, I think it could happen. You can’t ignore figures like that. But on the other hand, you have loyalty reasons for which you wouldn’t want to do it. Brendon would have to be involved in these discussions,” he said.

The Champions League will feature top domestic Twenty20 teams from India (3), Australia (2), England (2), New Zealand (1), West Indies (1), Sri Lanka (1) and South Africa (2).

One team each from Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand were drafted into the tournament recently.