IPL 2019: 3 teams that will face issues due to their players' World Cup preparations

Many stars opted out from playing IPL 2019 since the World Cup is around the corner. Players do not want to risk injury at this stage, and are focused on getting ready for the World Cup both physically and mentally.

The biggest cricket tournament is going to start on 30th May, when England take on South Africa at the Oval. But the national teams will start their preparatory camps well before that.

Many IPL teams will face problems because of this, as their foreign stars will be going back early. Even some Indian players will be rested ahead of the World Cup.

Here is a look at three teams who are going to suffer the most due to the World Cup:

#3 Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB haven't played well this season, to say the least. They have only won one game out of the seven they have played, and find themselves at the bottom of the IPL points table.

The Bangalore-based franchise don't look likely to qualify for the playoffs, so their chances of winning the tournament will not be affected even if some of their players leave. But their chance of winning at least a few games and earning the respect of others would take a major hit.

Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer and Tim Southee are the players that Royal Challengers Bangalore could have to let go early. Virat Kohli might also be rested for a few games at the end.

#2 Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians (picture courtesy: BCCI/iplt20.com)

Mumbai Indians are currently playing some good cricket. However, they will face big problems soon since many of their stars have been selected for the World Cup.

Their foreign stars, which include the wicketkeeper batsmen Quinton de Kock and fast bowlers Jason Behrendorff and Lasith Malinga, will not be available at the latter stages of the tournament. Along with them, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya might also be rested during the last few matches of the tournament, since they are both very crucial figures in the Indian national team.

Mumbai currently rank third in the points table and look likely to qualify for the playoffs. That is where they would really miss these stars.

#1 Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad (picture courtesy: BCCI/iplt20.com)

SRH is the team that will be facing the biggest issues due to the World Cup. They have a strong team, even though they have had a few issues in the middle order. They will miss their captain Kane Williamson, along with many other big names such as David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Martin Guptill and Shakib Al Hasan as these stars begin their World Cup preparations.

Most of these are core players for SRH, and they rely on them a lot. They are blessed to have the best foreign players in the tournament, but SRH will become a weak team if they lose all of these stars.

They can only hope that at least some of these stars try to stay back till the end.