Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were dealt a further blow over the weekend after their star player Moeen Ali picked up an ankle injury during training. They have already lost medium pacer Deepak Chahar and New Zealander Adam Milne for the rest of the season, and also tasted their sixth defeat of the season against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday (April 15).
But head coach Stephen Fleming is hopeful the England all-rounder can make a quick recovery in a week's time. Sharing an update on the all-rounder at the post-match press conference, Fleming said, "He rolled his ankle, X-Rays revealed there was no fracture but there is always a recovery period maybe seven days. We are hopeful the recovery will be quick given that there is no fracture."
Moeen last featured in CSK's three-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans on Sunday, April 17. He was a key member of the CSK team that lifted the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 trophy, but has struggled with both bat and ball both in the ongoing edition. He has 87 runs at an average of 17.40, and has gone wicketless so far, conceding 68 runs in the eight overs that he has bowled.
Ambati Rayudu also bruised his hand while fielding in the first innings and needed treatment. But he came back really well while chasing a total of 188, and hit seven boundaries and six sixes in his 39-ball 78 after the top order failed again.
"The first check was around the break and his hand was bruising. It was just a case of icing that and getting that down and I think a little padding around the glove. It was the same hand that was broken sometime back, so it's still pretty tender and a knock like that can obviously cause some damage," Fleming said.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand legend defended the decision to send the out-of-form Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the MS Dhoni, who scripted a three-wicket victory against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous outing. "We lost the wicket in the 12th (13th) over, pretty close to when we've seen MS Dhoni come in in the last 13 years, but today it was in the 12th over. We had this discussion a lot, MS' best time is from about 15 overs onwards and Jadeja has played some good innings for us from the stage and we don't throw that out based on 1-2 games."
