(Cricket News) India’s T20 superstar Suryakumar Yadav might miss the initial games of the IPL. He has suffered a temporary setback, being denied clearance to participate in the IPL from the National Cricket Academy.

Surya underwent a surgery on his ankle last December and has been out of cricket since. He underwent a fitness assessment at the NCA in Bengaluru on Tuesday, however it has been learnt that the NCA management has withheld the clearance. The immediate fallout of the decision is Surya potentially missing MI’s first game of the season.

Surya has been one of the most integral part of the Mumbai Indians and his absence might alter the plans for the franchise. His availability is not clear and any further updates on the same would be obtained after yet another assessment on the 21st of March.

Mumbai Indians are however optimistic about the star-batter joining the side sooner than later. MI’s first game is against the Gujarat Titans on the 24th of March, which will be followed by a game against SRH on the 27th March. If Surya gets cleared in the next fitness assessment, he might be available for MI’s second league game.

Mumbai Indians coach Mark Bouhcer hinted that Surya could miss a few games. “We are awaiting updates on Suryakumar from the BCCI. We have always been under a cloud of fitness issues but we have a world-class medical team. We may lose one or two in terms of fitness but we have to move on,” Boucher said.

He went on to add, “As the coach of Mumbai Indians, I am going to be a little bit biased and hope to see my best players in all the games. I have a soft spot for my players and I do understand that they might have niggles and that’s when I will fall back on my medical team and work with them accordingly.”

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