Kings XI Punjab's latest recruit Aaron Finch would have breathed easy on Wednesday, February 14, as he came to know he would not be missing more than one Indian Premier League (IPL) match in the upcoming season.
The Australian, who was bought by KXIP at last month's auction for a whopping Rs 6.2 crore, had scheduled his wedding with partner Ammy Griffiths on April 7 after he was initially told that the 11th season of IPL would start only in the second week of the month.
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However, according to the recently-released schedule, the cash-rich tournament starts on the first Saturday of April and Finch's Punjab-based franchise is scheduled to take on Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the season-opener on Sunday (April 8), a day after his wedding.
While Finch is certain about not "leaving Ammy at the altar", he has fixed Daredevils star Glenn Maxwell to be the Master of Ceremonies (MC) the event.
The big-hitting all-rounder, who was bought by DD for Rs 9 crore, has informed DD coach Ricky Ponting about the overlap, according to cricket.com.au.
Thus both the Australian superstars will be missing the marquee clash.
"I saw the fixture this morning — there is no chance I will be missing my wedding. That'd be a bit tough leaving Amy at the altar, wouldn't it?" Finch said on Thursday, as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"The second game we play is on the 13th, that'll give me plenty of time to get over there and miss only one game luckily. It's just a case of missing one game but hopefully playing with Kings over a three-year period, it's not the end of the world," he added.
"Having one of my good mates Hodgey [Hodge] as coach ... he knows about it now. I did wait a bit longer to send him the invite before the auction."
No big names at Finch's wedding ceremony
Finch also acknowledged that big names from the Australian cricket team, including David Warner, are unlikely to be part of his wedding due to their respective IPL commitments.
Warner's Sunrisers Hyderabad will play their first match on April 12. Meanwhile, Steve Smith, who will be leading Rajasthan Royals, will be in action as early as April 9.
The likes of Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson, who were snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders, are likely to be in Kolkata on February 8 for their tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
