On Saturday night, fans witnessed an amazing display of batting from both Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) when the two teams met in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match in Abu Dhabi. Making a mockery of CSK's 189 in 20 overs, RR won the match with 15 balls to spare. However, during CSK's innings, the match had to be halted for some time when Faf Du Plessis collided with RR pacer Mustafizur Rahman. The incident occurred in the final over of the powerplay, when du Plessis ran into Mustafizur at the non-striker's end while taking a run.
The South African batter played the ball to mid-off and set off for a quick single. Both he and Mustafizur were watching the ball.
As du Plessis neared the non-striker's end, he saw Mustafizur and realised that he was heading straight into the Bangladesh pacer. But by then it was too late and du Plessis couldn't move away or avoid the collision.
As both players went down, it appeared as if du Plessis blamed Mustafizur for the collision.
Due to the impact of the collision, du Plessis was seen kneeling down in pain. He may have hurt his neck. While he sported a grim look, the CSK physio rushed out immediately to attend to the South African.
Watch the video here:
As nothing serious happened, both the cricketers continued playing. But du Plessis' stay at the wicket was shortlived. In the very next over, he was out, stumped, for 25 runs. The collision and the stoppage in play may have affected his concentration.
Watch how he got out here:
Earlier, this year, du Plessis had suffered a concussion during a Pakistan Super League match when he crashed into a teammate while fielding. He had to be taken to a hospital after the nasty collision. Post that, du Plessis had to withdraw from The Hundred in England as he wasn't yet completely fit.
Here's the Pakistan Super League match collision:
MS Dhoni-led CSK are in top spot on the table with 18 points from 12 matches. Thanks to the win on Saturday, RR are still alive in the tournament, with 10 points from 12 games.