Sunrisers Hyderabad, the new IPL outfit, havesuffered a blow ahead of the tournament with star player Shikhar Dhawan beingruled out due to injury for at least their opening tie against Pune Warriors,to be held on April 5.
"Shikhar Dhawan at this stage will not be available forthe first game. We are obviously working closely with the BCCI and the medicalteam with regard to his progress," Sunrisers coach Tom Moody toldreporters here today.
"We are hoping that within a couple of weeks he will beavailable to join the team," he added.
Dhawan, who scored fastest ever century on debut in the recently-concludedTest series against Australia, had sustained an injury during the series.
Asked how many matches Dhawan is likely to miss, Moody replied:"We don't know as yet. We are hoping that he is going to have a speedyrecovery."
Stating that the team has a good mix of youth and experience,the coach said that the efforts are being made to improve the bonding amongthem.
"It (preparation for the IPL) has been going on well.Our first official training session will be this afternoon. We have had anumber of meetings with players. Myself, Waqar (Younis), who is the bowlingcoach and our assist coach...we spent a lot of time on a individualbasis," he said.
"For us obviously it is new. Lot of new faces we needto get familiar with. So we spent a good time getting to know the players. Wehad a good team evening, a good bounding session, which we will continue to doover the next week also.
"Lot of international players are scheduled to come in thenext few days. We are obviously excited," Moody added.
Regarding the Sri Lankan players in the team – Kumar Sangakkaraand Thisara Perera -- who would not be able to play in Chennai, Moody said theissue will be dealt by the officials.
"We will let the officials deal with the delicate situation.Both the players (Sangakkara and Perera) are coming and I am sure the officialswill sort out the situation in Chennai," he said.
Meanwhile, Waqar Younis, who is the bowling coach of Sunrisers,said it is going to be a big challenge for him.
"It is very exciting for me and also a big challenge. Iam appearing in IPL for the first time, hopefully, with Tom and me, Dale Steyn,Ishant Sharma and a lot of other players, we make a good unit and try to dowell," he said.
Waqar insisted that he would not be doing anything with seasonedplayers like Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma but take care of the younger ones.
He also said it is a great advantage to have VVSLaxman as the team mentor.