Despite the Chennai Super Kings having a pretty good record at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the four-time winners succumbed to a narrow defeat at the hands of the Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) face off on Wednesday. Chennai opted to bowl first and managed to keep the inaugural champions down to 175/8 in their 20 overs but in resposne could only muster 172/6.
Decon Conway (50 off 38) was the leading run-scorer for Chennai while Ajinkya Rahane's 31 off 19 gave impetus to the Chennai innings but it was really the knocks from captain MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja that gave CSK a chance in the end. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls while Jadeja stayed not out on 25 off 15 balls as Chennai lost the match by 3 runs.
As the difference between winning or losing was just 3 runs, many highlighted that Dhoni was not running at the lightening quick speed which he usually does between the wickets, which could have been the difference in the end. And post the match, CSK's head coach Stephen Fleming has now confirmed that Dhoni, who led CSK for a record 200th time on Wednesday, is in fact nursing a knee injury.
"He is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movements. It's hindering him somewhat. His fitness has always been very professional. He comes a month before the tournament starts. He's a great player. We have never doubts over him. He's just amazing," Fleming said in the press conference.
Even though Fleming confirmed that Dhoni was playing with an injury, he did not seem to suggest that the wicketkeeper-batter will miss any games for the team moving forward. He also added that pacer Sisanda Magala will be out of action for at least the coming two weeks after having sustained an injury during the RR match. He said that Deepak Chahar will also be out for about the same duration.