Ahead of IPL 2024, there isn’t good news for the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The MS Dhoni-led franchise is dealing with injury woes, with Devon Conway and Maheesh Pathirana’s availability under dark clouds.
On Monday (March 18), pacer Mustafizur Rahman — who was bought by Chennai in IPL 2024 mini-auction last year — was stretched off the field during Bangladesh’s final ODI versus Sri Lanka at Chattogram.
Mustafizur, fondly known as The Fizz, suffered severe cramps during the three-match series decider in Chattogram. The pacer had claimed two wickets for 39 runs in nine overs but was seen clutching his stomach. In addition, he fell to the ground after finishing the 42nd over of the Lankan innings. He was given the ball to bowl the 48th over, however, the 28-year-old was unable to complete the first delivery and, hence, Soumya Sarkar had to takeover from him.
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The CSK pacer was stretched off the field as he was in considerable pain. Here is the post shared on social media platform X, formerly Twitter:
Talking about the Ban-SL 3rd ODI, Kusal Mendis-led Lanka rode on Janith Liyanage’s 101 to post a moderate 235 for 6. Taskin Ahmed starred with 3 for 42 whereas Mustafizur, playing his first game of the three ODIs, ended with two scalps. In reply, the Najmul Shanto-led Bangla Tigers were led by Tanzid Hasan’s 84, Musfiqur Rahman’s 37 and Rishad Hossain’s 18-ball 48* to chase down the target in 40.2 overs. With this, the hosts won the series 2-1 after conceding the three T20Is by the same margin.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh cricket is yet to issue an update on Mustafizur. Dhoni-led CSK will be hoping for the pacer’s speedy recovery, who was expected to linkup with the Yellow Army after the ODI series.
IPL 2024 starts on March 22 with CSK hosting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chennai.
CSK squad for IPL 2024: MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Avanish Rao Aravelly, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Choudhary.