The CSK continue to get injury dents and it is still the early phase of the IPL 2023. There have been a total of 7 players from the CSK squad who have suffered injuries or are dealing with injuries this year. And the latest addition to CSK’s injury troubles is their main man – Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
MS Dhoni – knee injury
Yes, even Mahendra Singh Dhoni is dealing with injury currently and head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed it after their match against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday in Chepauk.
“He (MS Dhoni) is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movement, which is hindering him somewhat,” Fleming said on Wednesday night in Chennai.
Reports of CSK Skipper’s knee injury first emerged on the eve of their first match against Gujarat Titans. He even took a tumble while wicket-keeping and needed a physio to attend to his knee. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has played all of CSK’s 4 matches so far, but with this knee injury looking more concerning now, he might have to miss some match (es) during the season to be fit for the entire tournament.
Sisanda Magala – hand injury
During the RR match, CSK’s South African import, fast bowler , reopened his split webbing on his right hand while taking a catch. This has reportedly ruled Magala out for “at least 2 weeks” of action. Magala only bowled 2 overs before taking the catch and after sustaining this hand injury, he left the field and didn’t return to bowl.
Ben Stokes – heel and knee injury
Before arriving to the IPL 2023, Ben Stokes had sustained a knee injury during the Test series in New Zealand and bowled very little. In the IPL 2023, though he started in the tournament, Stokes was playing as a specialist batter. He played in two matches and bowled one over only in the second match, when he conceded 18 runs.
Stokes, however, didn’t play the next two games because of a heel injury. He’s unlikely to play for another week.
Deepak Chahar – hamstring
CSK lost seamer Deepak Chahar to a hamstring injury after he bowled just one over in the clash against Mumbai Indians.
According to Stephen Fleming, Chahar is at least two-three weeks away from returning to action.
Chahar has had to deal with injuries over the past year, and he also missed the IPL 2022 entirely.
Simarjeet Singh – long-term injury
There have been plenty of questions from the fans about why seamer Simarjeet , who was impressive last season, hasn’t played yet in the tournament as CSK have kept using Tushar Deshpande and then gave a debut to young Akash Singh vs RR.
Now it has been learned that Simarjeet, too, is recovering from an injury that had forced him to miss almost the whole of the last Indian domestic season. Simarjeet had last played domestic cricket in December.
Mukesh Choudhary – back injury
Left-arm pacer Mukesh Choudhary, who was one of CSK’s star performers last season, was ruled out of the IPL 2023 at the start of the tournament due to a back injury. Akash Singh was picked up as Choudhary’s replacement.
Choudhary was one of the finds of the last IPL 2022: he was CSK’s joint-highest wicket-taker, with 16 wickets in 13 matches, out of which 11 wickets came in the powerplay, the joint-most by any bowler during this phase last season.
Kyle Jamieson – back injury
New Zealand pacer Jamieson was the first casualty for CSK. Jamieson, who was signed for INR 1 crore at December’s mini-auction, was ruled out over a month before the IPL had started due to a recurrence of a lower-back stress fracture. Magala was roped in as Jamieson’s replacement.
CSK Squad for IPL 2023:
Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwaine Pretorius, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Sisanda Magala, Tushar Deshpande, Ambati Rayudu, Akash Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, RS Hangargekar, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu
