Australian legspinner Adam Zampa will not be available for the Royal Challengers Bangalore's first game of IPL 2021 because of his marriage, the team's director of cricket Mike Hesson said in a video posted on Twitter. The Royal Challengers will play the Mumbai Indians on April 9 in the tournament opener, to be held in Chennai.

Zampa, who has 200 wickets in 173 T20s, played only three games for the Royal Challengers in IPL 2020, picking up two wickets.

"We won't have our full contingent of overseas players available for the first game," Hesson said. "Adam Zampa is getting married. It's an important time for him and it's something that as a franchise we are aware of and we respect and we hope he has a great time. So when he joins us, once again he is going to be fresh and make a massive contribution to the rest of the tournament."

More to follow…