Indian medium pacer Ashish Nehra is unlikely to feature during the initial phase of the fourth edition of Indian Premier League due to the finger injury that ruled him out of the World Cup final. Nehra, who will be representing Pune Warriors in the fourth edition sustained a fracture in one of the fingers in his right hand during the semi-final of the World Cup against Pakistan in Mohali. The injury led to him missing the epic final of the World Cup where he was replaced by S Sreesanth.

"Yes, Ashish won't be available for the first few matches of the Indian Premier League due to the injury. As of now, we don't know for how many matches," an IPL official informed said.

Pune Warriors will start their campaign in Navi Mumbai against KIngs XI Punjab on April 10 followed by a home match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala on April 13. Nehra is sure to miss these two matches.

Meanwhile, Sahara Pune Warriors has been rechristened as Pune Warriors India as IPL constituition states that none of the franchises can have a corporate name as it will have conflict of interest with DLF who are sponsors of the IPL.