IPL monitor: Round-up of the day's news

Gayle out, Bravo in

April 19, 2008

Gayle no-show
Chris Gayle will miss the Kolkata Knightriders' first home game, against the Deccan Chargers this Sunday. He did not leave for India on Friday as he was scheduled to, owing to a groin injury, and is expected to be out of action for a fortnight, according to the team spokesman. Though he will miss the first few games, Gayle is expected stay on, along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, till the end of the tournament despite Australia's tour of West Indies clashing with the IPL.

Ranji Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians have recruited several former Ranji players as support staff for the team. While former Test wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe is their fielding coach, Mumbai batsman Atul Bedade is the travel manager and former Indian left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi is their team manager. Apart from them, Subroto Banerjee, a medium-pacer who played one Test for India before moving to New South Wales, has been called in as Mumbai's bowling coach. Banerjee is a Level II coach and plays grade cricket in Sydney.

Bravo in for Malinga
Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, will be joining the Mumbai Indians squad to replace the injured Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga. Lalchand Rajput, Mumbai's coach, confirmed that Bravo was the unanimous choice of the "few" names discussed by the team think-tank. Malinga, recovering from a knee injury that he picked during the CB Series in Australia, and, had to miss the Caribbean tour but was confident last week he would be fit to join the Mumbai squad. But Rajput said "we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up".

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