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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 opener against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday (September 19) in Abu Dhabi by five wickets. The ‘Yellow Army’ entered the game without their star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
The legendary West Indies player missed out the first match due to a knee injury that occurred during his stint with Trinbao Knight Riders (TKR) in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020.
Now, the CSK fans may not see Bravo in the second game as well which is scheduled to be played against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on September 22 in Sharjah.
Post the first contest, the head coach of Super Kings, Stephen Fleming, revealed that Bravo is likely to be unavailable for their second match.
English all-rounder, Sam Curran, replaced Bravo in the first contest and impressed one and all with his outstanding performance. Curran picked one wicket for 28 runs and scored a quickfire 18 with the willow.
“Dwayne at the moment is injured so he is probably out for a couple of games. But Sam’s performance was extremely positive, and that’s why we board him. His attitude is exceptionally infectious. His performance today I thought was quite outstanding. Straight off the plane yesterday” said Fleming at the end of CSK’s opening game.
“If Dwayne was fit, it would have been a toss-up if he [Curran] had played at all. So he has taken this opportunity and put some pressure on,” he added.
Fleming heaped praises on Rayudu and Du Plessis
CSK won their encounter against MI by five wickets with four balls to spare. Chasing 163, the MS Dhoni-led side had a dreadful start, but a 115-run partnership between Ambati Rayudu (71) and Faf du Plessis (58 not out) took CSK over the line.
“For us, he’s (Rayudu) been nothing short of fantastic, and again today he turned the game around. His experience and also skillset was a major part for us to win today,” the 47-year-old added further.
“The partnership between Du Plessis and Rayudu was full of experience and top of batsmanship. Very grateful for the experience and the performance of those two (Rayudu and Du Plessis) today,” concluded Fleming.
