Dimitri, Hodge to depart from IPL

13th May 2008

The exodus of foreign players from the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) continues, as the Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders will have to do without England's Dimitri Mascarenhas and Australian Brad Hodge respectively.

Dimitri Mascarenhas did not play in the first three ties after arriving in India in the last week of April. The Hampshire captain's only outing in the inaugural edition of the IPL was against the Delhi Daredevils. Mascarenhas played a part in helping his team secure a three-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils, by picking up the wickets of AB deVilliers and Dinesh Karthik, and conceding only 29 runs in his stipulated four overs.

Mascarenhas has meanwhile not ruled out the possibility of rejoining the Rajasthan Royals contingent if they make it to the last four.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders will not be able to utilise the services of Brad Hodge, the leading run scorer in Twenty20 cricket, after he was summoned by Cricket Australia and was asked to join the Australian team enroute to the Caribbean.

Hodge was recalled into the Australian fold, after Michael Clarke opted out of the Caribbean tour for personal reasons.

Before he joined the Kolkata Knight Riders, Hodge held to his credit a strike rate of 139 from 47 matches. However, in the three games he played in the IPL, the right-hander only managed 12 runs.

In their next game, Kolkata Knight Riders will host Delhi Daredevils May 13 whereas Rajasthan Royals will take on Bangalore Royal Challengers on May 17 in Jaipur.