In what will be a huge blow to the Mumbai Indians ,its star batsman Lendl Simmons has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 and will need about 8-10 weeks to recover,according to Ricky Ponting.

Simmons was part of the MI team, who took on Rising Pune Supergiants in the opening match of the tournament at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

It is not clear as to what sort of injury Simmons is suffering. He has been replaced by Parthiv Patel for the match against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Simmons usually comes on to open the batting for MI along with their skipper Rohit Sharma. In his absence, it seems as though Parthiv will takeover the role being Rohit Sharma's partner for the time being.

New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill has been named as his replacement.Guptill was up for grabs in the IPL auction, but went unsold.

Mumbai Indians fans will hope the new addition will help add a new dimension to their side.