Chennai Super Kings dealt with a bitter blow on Saturday as they lost marquee pacer Deepak Chahar early into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 contest against Mumbai Indians. Chahar sustained an injury that saw his bowling spell being limited to just one over and now, he could miss the franchise's next few IPL games after his left hamstring injury seemed to have resurfaced once again. Chahar was out for a better part of 2022 due to a hamstring injury and it was frustrating to see him hobbling after bowling one over against Mumbai Indians.
CSK legend Suresh Raina, who is doing commentary for 'Jio Cinema' said: "It seems Deepak will be out for 4-5 games. It looks he has again sustained hamstring injury and looked in discomfort. All the other IPL venues are far off from Chennai and there will be lot of travelling involved." Skipper MS Dhoni said at the post-match presentation that the victory was satisfying considering his team lost the services of Chahar in the first over itself.
"Feels good. Not to forget we lost Deepak in the first over. He's our new ball bowler and Magala playing his first match. The good thing is spinners bowled well. It was a bit two-paced and after seven overs, it started turning," Dhoni gave his assessment.
"The spinners and the fast bowlers came back well. Magala was good and so was Pretorius." Dhoni was all praise for young Tushar Deshpande.
"We believe in him, and when you're new you are under pressure but playing in the IPL for a few years brings different pressure. He had a great domestic season, he is improving. He has a lot of potential but he can improve by not bowling those no-balls, and by being more consistent."
Chahar has been facing injury issues for a long time. Earlier, he had almost the entire IPL 2022 season due to a back injury.
With PTI inputs