Stephen Fleming, the coach of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has acknowledged that their campaign and planning have been hampered due to multiple injury issues. He noted, however, that they are not the only team facing fitness issues and have to find a way to work around it. On Wednesday, April 12, pacer Sisanda Magala became the most recent injury for the CSK franchise after he hurt his finger while attempting to catch Ravichandran Ashwin’s shot during the match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Magala is expected to remain out of action for at least two weeks.
Deepak Chahar, who sustained another injury in their last game, has been ruled out of action for several weeks, while left-arm pacer Mukesh Choudhary has been sidelined for IPL 2023 due to a back problem. All-rounder Ben Stokes has also missed recent matches due to fitness concerns.
At the post-match press conference following Chennai’s three-run defeat to Rajasthan, Coach Fleming accepted the serious nature of the team’s fitness struggles. He expressed his disappointment, saying:
“We have lost another player two games in a row, and we are already pretty thin, so we would like it to stop. Magala’s hand was split, unfortunately, so he was unable to bowl those last two overs. Same with Deepak Chahar in the last game. We are operating on thin resources.
“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. It’s not how we planned, but T20 rarely goes to plan.”
“Chahar is out for 2-3 weeks, probably. Magala will be out for a couple of weeks. Ben Stokes, day by day he is improving.
“Matheesha Pathirana tested positive for Covid in New Zealand and has recovered. He’ll come into contention for the next game.” He further added.
“Some good hitting at the end got us close”: Fleming
Fleming commented on Chennai’s loss to Rajasthan, saying that they were sloppy on the field and that dropped catches had cost them against a strong opponent. He commented:
“Extras, we were sloppy in the field with some catches going down, and little things like that are going to determine the result. We have had four games in four days, which have gone down to the last ball, which is pretty unique. It suggests the teams are very even, so little things on the day are going to matter.”
“They (RR) have got world-class spinners, with [Ravichandran] Ashwin, [Yuzvendra] Chahal and [Adam] Zampa working away. We knew it was going to be a grind like that. Some good hitting at the end got us close.” He further added on the team’s batting performance.