Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 13: Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said that captain MS Dhoni is ‘nursing a knee injury’ that prevented him from dashing between the wickets.
In CSK’s three-run loss against Rajasthan Royals in the nail-biting final over on April 12, Dhoni did not perform to his best potential. The 41-year-old was spotted with a knee cap during CSK’s preseason training. Dhoni justified his ball-striking against Rajasthan Royals despite having a knee ailment by leading CSK in the 176-run chase with his unbeaten 32 off only 17 balls. Despite the fact that CSK lost to RR, Dhoni’s performance was noteworthy. In three appearances, he has scored 58 runs total with a strike rate of over 215 with six sixes and two gours.
“He (Dhoni) is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movement, which is hindering him somewhat. But still what you saw (against RR) is a great player for us. His fitness has always been very professional,” Fleming said in the press conference after the match.
Flemings gave Dhoni even more accolades for how he maintains his IPL fitness. The next game between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will take place on Monday, April 17.
“He (Dhoni) comes a month before the tournament starts, so he doesn’t get the opportunity to do a lot [before that],” Fleming said. “He will stay fit, they will do some netting in Ranchi, but his main pre-season [fitness] is done a month before when he comes to Chennai.
“And he works his way back into match-form and I think you can still see he’s playing pretty well. So we never have any doubts about the way he manages himself and he always gets himself up to speed,” he added.
