Stuart Broad's Indian Premier League debut will be further delayed after he was ruled out of all cricket for three weeks.
Broad flew home early from England's tour of Sri Lanka due to a calf strain suffered in the first Test at Galle, and the England and Wales Cricket Board announced they would monitor his recovery upon his return to England.
His recovery period will extend until the end of the month, with the ECB announcing on Tuesday: "Broad will be assessed regularly over the coming weeks with a view to returning to cricket with Nottinghamshire in early May."
Broad missed the first year of a three-year contract with the Kings XI Punjab due to injury and was unavailable when this season's competition began on 4 April.
While Twenty20 experience in the subcontinent would be ideal for England's short-form captain ahead of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this year, England are unwilling to gamble with Broad's longer-term fitness.
The injury to his right calf followed a sprain to his other ankle earlier in the tour, the latest in a worrying sequence of fitness problems for Broad, who left the 2010-11 Ashes after two Tests due to a stomach muscle problem that went on to keep him out of the World Cup.
He then suffered a shoulder injury that prevented him from captaining the side in two Twenty20 matches against West Indies last September and ruled him out of the limited-overs series in India that followed.
Agencies
