Portugal Colonial - Maxwell likely to miss rest of IPL with 'fractured finger'

"Unfortunate that he's got a fractured finger," skipper Shreyas Iyer said at the toss against Chennai Super Kings.

"To be honest, we haven't decided about the replacements yet so far but we are pretty strong in our team's mindset and what we have outside of our playing XI."

Iyer added: "We've got variety of players who can win you matches. So we're going to stick to that as much as possible."

With Maxwell absent, Punjab started the match with only three overseas players -- a maximum of four are allowed in the T20 tournament.

Another Australian import at Punjab, Marcus Stoinis also confirmed Maxwell's injury.

"Unfortunately, Maxi's broken his finger," Stoinis told the broadcasters before the match in Chennai.

"He broke it just before the last game at training. He didn't think it was too bad, but it ended up getting pretty bad. He had scans and yeah, the results weren't great. So unfortunately for Maxi, I think it's likely he's out for the tournament."

It has been an ordinary season for Maxwell, who scored 48 runs with the bat in six innings and claimed four wickets with his off-spin.

Punjab are currently fifth in the 10-team table with five wins in nine matches.

The top four teams at the end of the league phase will move into the play-offs.

P.Mira--PC