IPL 2018

Hamstring injury rules Jadhav out of IPL 2018

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Jadhav initially got retired hurt before coming back to seal a thrilling win against MI. © BCCI

Chennai Super Kings have suffered a huge blow with key middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav getting ruled out of IPL 2018 with a grade two hamstring injury. Jadhav suffered the injury during CSK's tournament opener against Mumbai Indians on Saturday (April 7) and retired hurt in the 13th over of the run chase when his side was staring at defeat.

Once Dwayne Bravo's heroics brought CSK within touching distance of victory, Jadhav came out to bat at the fall of the ninth wicket and hit a four and a six in the final over to seal a thrilling comeback win. Post the win, Jadhav was hopeful of recovering within a month but his injury will now force the franchise to look for other options having invested heavily (INR 7.80 Crore) on the 33-year-old.

"Unfortunately for us, Kedhar Jadhav has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament," CSK's batting coach Michael Hussey said ahead of his side's first home game of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders.

"His hamstring scan did not come back so good. I believe it is a Grade 2 tear and he is going to be out for some period of time. We haven't picked a replacement as yet but we will go through the process. It is a big loss for us because he is obviously a very good player and a key player in that middle order. There are big shoes to fill for that little man I guess."

CSK have not yet named a replacement. The injury might now force Ambati Rayudu to return to the middle order. The 32-year-old had opened the innings alongside Shane Watson against MI due to Faf du Plessis's absence.

Hussey also revealed that du Plessis is recovering from a side strain while Vijay is slowly gaining full fitness after being hit on the ribs during a net session. "I believe Faf is not in full training at the moment. He's recovering from a slight side strain and obviously he's got a small fracture in one of his fingers. But he's going to be ramping his training up a lot in the next seven days and is hopeful to be available for the next against Mohali (Kings XI)," he said.

"From what I understand, Murali Vijay got a bit of a knock in the first few days of his training in his ribs. He's been quite sore actually and slowly working his way back to full fitness. He has been training well though and hitting the ball nicely. There's always 50-50 calls that can go either way and sometimes it's just the gut feel of the captain and the coach of which way they want to go."

© Cricbuzz

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