Mustafizur Rahman leaves, Deepak Chahar's injury a big worry for CSK
CHENNAI: In a matter of a few IPL matches, Chennai Super Kings have gone from having a problem of plenty to suffering from plenty of problems.
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For the majority of the first half of the season, CSK had the luxury of picking bowlers from a big pool stacked with quality. But during Wednesday's seven-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings here, Super Kings were forced to operate on thin bowling resources.
Matheesha Pathirana sat out the match with a niggle, Tushar Deshpande missed the game with illness and the injury-prone Deepak Chahar limped off the field just two balls into his first over. With the tournament heading towards its business end, CSK, involved in a tricky top-four battle, are sweating over the fitness and availability of some of their frontline bowlers.
The challenge will only get tougher as Super Kings will be handicapped by the absence of left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who has left the CSK camp for international duty. Chennai head coach Stephen Fleming acknowledged the issue.
"There are a lot of ins and outs. Chahar's injury does not look good. The initial feeling was not great, so I am hoping for a positive report when the physio and doctor have a look. The Sri Lankan boys (Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana) are off to get their visas, so I am hoping that the process is smooth and we get them back for the next game up north (against PBKS in Dharamsala on Sunday)," said Fleming after CSK went down meekly to Punjab.
"Richard Gleeson (debutant) was good, it was a positive. Losing Mustafizur, there is a lot happening. Tushar has a flu, we lost him and had to make a few changes, which is unusual. But it is part of the game. We have the resources, but it is just that they have not got enough game time to become comfortable with their roles," added Fleming.
Because of the paucity of bowling options against Punjab, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was compelled to bring Shivam Dube into the attack for the first time this season. Dube had played as a pure batter in the nine matches prior to that game.
"Obviously, it (losing many bowlers) is a real problem. There are phases where you really want to get a wicket, but you suddenly have only two bowlers to get a wicket. Spinners are really out of the game, given the dew (in Chennai). It was definitely a tough day. Things like these happen. We still have four games to go and really hope that we can turn it around," said Ruturaj.
1/10:IPL: Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings in their own den
IANS
2/10:Bairstow and Rossouw's Impact
Key knocks by Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw helped Punjab Kings to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over defending champions Chennai Super Kings.AP
3/10:Commanding win for Punjab
Chasing 163 for victory, Punjab depended on Bairstow's 46 and 43 by Rossouw to achieve victory with 13 balls to spare.AFP
4/10:Fourth win for Punjab
Bairstow and Rossouw, a left-handed South African batsman, put on 64 runs for the second wicket to set up the chase.AP
5/10:Shashank, Curran take Punjab home
Shashank Singh, who made 25, and skipper Sam Curran, who hit 26, then put on an unbeaten stand of 50 to steer the team home and keep their slim play-off hopes alive.AP
6/10:Punjab dominate Chennai
Punjab are the second team to defeat Chennai in five successive IPL matches. Mumbai Indians won five in a row against Chennai between 2018 and 2019.PTI
7/10:Fifth defeat for Chennai
Five-time winners Chennai have won five and lost five and stay fourth in the 10-team table led by Rajasthan Royals.ANI
8/10:Punjab bowlers' impact
Bowlers set up victory with spinners Harpreet Brar, who was named man of the match for his figures of 2-17, and Rahul Chahar taking two wickets each in their miserly spells.AP
9/10:Gaikwad claims Orange Cap
Ruturaj Gaikwad with five half-centuries this season surpassed RCB star Virat Kohli (500) as the leading batsman in the IPL 2024 with 509 runs in 10 innings.AFP
