Delhi Capitals (DC) off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin sustained a nasty injury on the last ball of his first over during the match against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in IPL 2020 on Sunday. Ashwin, who picked up two wickets in his first five balls, dived to try and stop Glenn Maxwell from taking a single.
Ashwin, while trying to stop the ball off his bowling, landed badly on his left shoulder. Ajinkya Rahane came in as Ashwin’s replacement after the latter was helped off the field by physio Patrick Farhart.
However, Ashwin’s injury didn’t cost DC, at least in their opening game. In the spin-department, Axar Patel turned out to be frugal as he didn’t concede a single boundary and also picked up the important wicket of Sarfaraz Khan. Barring Anrich Nortje, the other Delhi bowlers got at least a wicket.
As far as the game is concerned, it went right down to the Super Over where Kagiso Rabada sealed the fate of the match.
Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal almost got KXIP over the finishing line, scoring 89 off 60 balls with the help of seven fours and four sixes. But his efforts went in vain as KXIP couldn’t score one run in the last two balls of their stipulated 20 overs.
Ashwin confident of making a comeback
Well, despite the injury, Ashwin reckons that he can make the cut for the Capitals’ second match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday (September 25).
But DC skipper Shreyas Iyer mentioned that Ashwin’s return would depend on the physio’s call. “I briefly spoke to Ashwin, and Ashwin said he’ll be ready for the next game. But at the end of the day it’s the physio’s decision,” Iyer was quoted as saying at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“He’s a strong-minded guy and hopefully he will be available,” Iyer added.
