Dwayne Bravo, the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) death bowling specialist and highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket, is injured again and will miss a “few days or a couple of weeks,” according to Stephen Fleming.
The CSK head coach revealed that Bravo had sustained a groin injury, which was serious enough to keep him off the field, and hence he couldn’t bowl the final over against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in Sharjah on Saturday.
In the injury-enforced absence of Bravo, Dhoni gave the ball to ‘experienced’ Ravindra Jadeja to defend 16 off the last over, but centurion Shikhar Dhawan and Axar Patel sealed the chase with a ball to spare, handing the Super Kings their sixth defeat in nine games.
“He seems to have a right groin injury, I think, and it was obviously serious enough to keep him off the field,” Fleming said at the post-match press conference.
When asked if the franchise will look for Bravo’s replacement, if ruled out of the IPL 2020, the CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan said that is unlikely. “I don’t think a replacement is an option at this stage because if a new person comes in, it will again be about having a quarantine period for him before he can join the rest of the squad. It is unlikely that we will look at a replacement for Bravo if he is out. But firstly we are hoping Bravo isn’t out and the injury isn’t major,” he told ANI.
The decision makes a lot of sense because even if reports on Sunday confirmed he is out for more than a couple of games and CSK request a replacement, the player can at the earliest be available after their game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on October 25.
However, Bravo’s absence could open up a spot for Imran Tahir, who was the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2019, with 26 strikes at an economy rate of 6.69. New Zealand spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner is the other overseas option for the Super Kings.
Tahir and Santner are the only overseas players to have not played for CSK this season. With the UAE tracks tiring in the second half of the IPL, the Super Kings will look to one of these two spinners to fill the Bravo-sized hole.
The Dhoni-led side’s next match is against the Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 19).
