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Are these big Indian stars in line to miss IPL 10?

The India captain is certain to miss at least the first four weeks of IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, whom he has been serving ever since IPL began in 2008.

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"It is not fine as of now, but I don't know exactly. The physio will give an official statement soon about the time span."

These were parting words of Virat Kohli when asked for an update on his injured shoulder after addressing the media in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

The India captain is certain to miss at least the first four weeks of IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, whom he has been serving ever since IPL began in 2008.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL franchises may be at loggerheads over their India Test stars. The Indian team physio Patrick Farhart is in the city and after going through the reports of the players' fitness on Thursday, he will submit his recommendations to the board, which will issue a statement on the players' future course of action.

In the event of the players missing IPL, the BCCI will compensate them monetarily. When contacted on Wednesday, a board official said it was up to the individual players if they wanted to skip IPL and take rest.

Kohli may not be alone to miss a major part of IPL. Some of the big stars who played key roles in India's 10 wins out of 13 home Tests, and 12 out of 17 if you include the tour of the West Indies last July-August, would be better off with rest to their bodies than be involved in the gruelling 47-day IPL.

This would give them time to recover from the strenuous season and return fresh to defend their title in the ICC Champions Trophy that begins on June 1 in England.

Besides Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin (Rising Pune Supergiants), KL Rahul (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Murali Vijay (Kings XI Punjab), Umesh Yadav (Kolkata Knight Riders), Ravindra Jadeja (Gujarat Lions) are some of the players who will be better off with rest and give the first part of IPL a miss and return to action in the latter half as that would also give them the match practice ahead of the Champions Trophy.

The IPL will lose its sheen if some of these superstars are to miss some matches a miss. But, considering their workload that they have been through in the last nine months, with some of them playing in all the formats, wouldn't their franchise owners also support them in letting them take rest initially than force them to play the whole IPL?

The workload of the players, particularly bowlers, have been unimaginable. India's strike bowler Ashwin profusely thanked his team physio for keeping him fit for the last two months and finish the season without breaking down. Ashwin had complained of suffering from sports hernia at the end of the England series and hence was not available to play the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal for Tamil Nadu in December end.

Despite that, he managed to stretch himself and bowl 284.2 overs in five Tests for 27 wickets in the last month and a half. In the last nine months, Ashwin has, in all, sent down 869.2 overs and taken 99 wickets.

Jadeja's bowling arm may be on "auto mode" but even that needs some rest as he has sent down 717.2 overs for 71 wickets in 13 home Tests.

Yadav had said on Tuesday that since the Dharamsala Test was the last game of the season, he went flat out and hence produced the fiery spell that we all witnessed in Australia's second innings. Bowling fast on Indian conditions without breaking down is a testimony to his fitness. The pacer from Vidarbha has sent down 404.5 overs in 14 Tests from the West Indies tour and has taken 35 wickets.

Vijay (wrist) and Rahul (left shoulder) will be looking to give it a rest and, if need be, undergo surgeries as would Ashwin, to get back fit and fresh for the next international assignment.

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