Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper, MS Dhoni is sustaining a knee injury, which is hindering his movement, said head coach Stephen Fleming after CSK suffered a three-run loss against Rajasthan Royals (RR). Adding to the injury worries, CSK’s South African pacer Sisanda Magala too suffered a split webbing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday night.
Talking to the reporters after the game, as per the quotes in Times Now, Stephen Fleming said, “He (Dhoni) is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movement, hindering him somewhat. His fitness has been professional. He comes in months before the tournament starts. He does some nets in Ranchi, but his main pre-season is a month before he comes to Chennai.”
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Seamer Sandeep Sharma nailed back-to-back deliveries to help his team register a win in Chennai. Chasing 176, Dhoni (32) and Ravindra Jadeja (25) were on the course requiring 21 runs off the last over. CSK’s final score was 172/6 as Dhoni couldn’t end his 200th game for CSK in a manner he would have wanted to on home turf.
Talking about the injuries of Dhoni and Magala, Stephen Fleming said, “He works his way back into match form, and you can still see he is playing pretty well. So we always have confidence about how he manages himself. He always keeps himself up to speed. For us again, it’s losing another player — that’s two games in a row — and we’re already pretty thin, so we’d like it (injuries) to stop.”
CSK’s list of injured players seems to be a never-ending one as England all-rounder Ben Stokes is missing the games due to a heel injury, while pacer Deepak Chahar has been almost ruled out of IPL 2023 due to a hamstring injury he sustained during the match against Mumbai Indians.
Talking about Sisanda Magala further, Stephen Fleming said, “Magala’s hand was split, unfortunately, so he was unable to bowl those last two overs. And the same with Deepak Chahar in the last game, so we’re operating on pretty thin resources. But we’re not the only team to have that. I think a lot of players coming out of a big domestic season are a little bit broken, but we just keep having to find solutions. But, yeah, it’s not ideal yet.”
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He further added, “Moeen Ali had to come back (after Magala hurt his webbing), and he hadn’t had a great day but he got the wicket of (Jos) Buttler which was good. And you’ve got young players like Akash (Singh) who is coming in for his first game, having to bowl some key overs. It’s not how we plan, but T20 very rarely goes to plan.”
Fleming said that Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who had tested positive for Covid-19 in New Zealand, had recovered and was available for selection now. CSK play their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on April 17.
