On Wednesday, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) came close to a dramatic win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match. MS Dhoni stayed undefeated to the finish, but with 5 runs needed from the final delivery to win the match, the ‘Thala’ couldn’t despatch the ball to the boundary. As a result, Rajasthan won by three runs. However, following the game, CSK coach Stephen Fleming said that Dhoni is suffering from a knee ailment.
Dhoni looked in fine form as he hit some of his famous sixes, particularly against spinners. Dhoni hit 32 off 17 balls, including one boundary and three sixes, forging an important partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 25 off 15 balls.
Dhoni was able to strike two sixes in the penultimate over against Sandeep Sharma, who needed 21 runs off the last six balls to clinch a 3-run win for his team.
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Speaking of Dhoni, Fleming said that the franchise captain is suffering from a knee issue but was still able to perform admirably in the middle.
“He is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movements. It’s hindering him somewhat. His fitness has always been very professional. He comes a month before the tournament starts. He’s a great player. We have never doubts over him. He’s just amazing,” Fleming said in the press conference.
While it has been verified that Dhoni is injured, Fleming did not rule out the possibility of Dhoni playing in the future CSK games.
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Chennai will also be without bowler Sisanda Magala for a few weeks, according to Fleming.
“Magala’s hand was split unfortunately, so he was unable to bowl those last two overs. And 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,” Fleming said.
“So we’ll do that in the next four days. But, yeah, it’s not ideal yet. The captain has to then think on his feet (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’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,” the CSK coach added.
Also Read: IPL 2023: 3 Milestones That Can Be Surpassed in today’s PBKS vs GT match (cricfiles.com)
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