Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni is battling a knee injury, according to head coach Stephen Fleming, which is preventing him from running between wickets. During Super Kings’ failed pursuit against Rajasthan Royals at home on Wednesday, Dhoni was not running at full throttle, which was also the case during Super Kings’ intra-squad exhibition match leading up to the IPL. During the Super Kings pre-season camp in Chennai, he was often seen with a kneecap.
“He’s dealing with a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movements, which limits him a bit,” said Fleming after the game. “But still what you saw today is a great player for us. His condition has always been very professional.”
Despite his knee problems, Dhoni has been in excellent ball form this season. On Wednesday, he hit an unbeaten 32 off 17 balls to trail Super Kings’ chase of 176 to the last ball. Overall, Dhoni has hit 58 runs in three innings this season with a batting frequency of nearly 215, including six sixes and two fours. Even at the nets, Dhoni regularly launches the ball over the boundaries.
Fleming dismissed any concerns about Dhoni’s fitness and praised him for the way he manages himself ahead of an IPL season.
“He comes a month before the tournament starts, so he doesn’t get a chance to do much [before that]said Fleming. “He will keep fit, they will do some nets in Ranchi, but his main preparation for the season [fitness] is done a month early when he comes to Chennai. And he’s working his way back into match form and I think you can still see him playing pretty well. So we never question the way he manages himself and he always manages to keep himself informed.”
Sisanda Magala out for at least two weeks
However, Fleming is concerned about the increasing injuries in the seam attack. South African fast bowler Sisanda Magala bowled just two overs against Royals before leaving the field with a split tyre. He’s probably out for two weeks. Incidentally, he had joined the Super Kings squad as a substitute player after New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson was ruled out of the entire tournament due to injury. Super Kings are already without left arm sailor Mukesh Choudhary who will also miss the entire IPL season.
Magala’s latest injury is a major blow to Super Kings’ odds, especially away from home, as his yorkers and slower variations provide a powerful point of difference. Magala is also capable of making big hits. The only other specialist overseas seaman on the Super Kings team is Matheesha Pathirana, who arrived in Chennai from New Zealand on Monday evening but has just recovered from Covid-19. Maheesh Theekshana, the other Sri Lankan, got straight into Super Kings’ XI and came away 0 for 42 in his four overs against Royals.
“For us it’s another loss to another player – that’s two games in a row – and we’re already quite thin, so we’d like it [injuries] to stop,” said Fleming. ‘Magala’s hand was unfortunately split, so he couldn’t bowl those last two overs. And the same with Deepak Chahar in the last game, so we’re working with pretty thin resources. But we’re not the only team that has that.”
Deepak Chahar will be back in two to three weeks
Super Kings had lost Chahar to hamstring injury just once in their match against Mumbai Indians. According to Fleming, it will be two to three weeks before he returns to action.
Sailor Simarjeet Singh, who had missed almost the entire last Indian domestic season through injury, is also still recovering.
On Monday, Simarjeet had a netting session, but he often missed his run-up and lacked the rhythm that had impressed Dhoni and Fleming last season. He has not played competitive T20 cricket since the last IPL.
“I think a lot of players coming off a big national season are a little bit broken, but we just have to keep finding solutions,” said Fleming. “So we will do that for the next four days. But yes, it is not yet ideal. The captain then has to think.” [if bowlers keep getting injured]. 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 have young players like Akash [Singh] coming in for his first game, as he has some keyovers to bowl. It’s not how we plan, but the T20 rarely goes to plan.”
Former India coach Ravi Shastri recently expressed his frustration with the frequent and recurring injuries faced by Indian bowlers. Shastri’s comments came while discussing Chahar’s injury.
“Let’s put it this way: there have been quite a few permanent residents at the National Cricket Academy over the last three or four years,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out show. “Soon they will get a residence permit there to walk in whenever they want, which is not good at all. It’s unreal.”
Ben Stokes is judged daily
Ben Stokes, INR 16.5 crore pick of Super Kings at auction last December, was ruled out of Saturday night’s match against Mumbai with a minor toe injury. It is believed to have nothing to do with his ongoing knee problem. Stokes had played only a minor role in the Super Kings warm-up in both Mumbai and tonight in Chennai.
Moeen Ali was also out of the game against Mumbai, with stomach flu, but returned tonight against Royals.
Super Kings have a five-day break before facing Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on April 17.
