Premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is "doing excellent" in his recovery post the shoulder injury and might be available for the Delhi Capitals' (DC) next match on Saturday (October 3) in Sharjah versus Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), said the team's bowling coach Ryan Harris.
Ashwin, who had hurt his left shoulder while diving to save a run off his bowling in DC's campaign opener, subsequently missed their next two matches. However, before the important encounter against KKR, Harris provided a positive update on the 34-year-old.
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"He's doing excellent. He had a really good session last night with the ball, bat and in the field. So he might be available for selection for tomorrow, but we are still waiting for our medical staff's confirmation this evening," Harris said in a press release issued by Delhi Capitals.
After a narrow super-over win over Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), DC dominated Chennai Super Kings (CSK). But just when the team seemed like carrying that momentum forward, they suffered a 15-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Harris, though, believes there isn't anything to panic about as they weren't at their best against SRH.
"Coming off an unlucky loss, we just were not at our best for that game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. But, there's no panicking by any means."
"When you look back at it, a couple of balls during our bowling were a little bit of a miss, and they (SRH) probably ran better between the wickets, we didn't run as well. But 15 runs is not a huge gap."
The face-off with a power-packed batting line-up such as KKR's in Sharjah, a ground with notoriously short boundary dimensions, will require DC's bowlers to be at their very best.
"Obviously, it's a new ground for us (their first game) and games there have been pretty high-scoring, so it's the other element we are looking at, at the moment," said Harris, who also thinks this year's is probably the closest IPL in terms of competition between teams.
"Coming into the tournament, everyone was saying the same thing that there are no clear favourites this season. I think the competition this year is probably the closest that I can remember and I've been involved in a few seasons overall," believes the former Australian Test quick.
"I think everyone is virtually sitting on the same points, it is going to be close. The games that come down to the wire are the ones you need to win to make sure you're in those playoffs spots or in the top-two positions."
"With this whole COVID situation, the guys didn't really train before coming here, but put in some excellent work into the nets session for the three weeks leading up to the tournament," he added.
"Coming into the game, we backed off a bit to make sure our energy levels were recharged. It's now important to make sure the boys can maintain their energy levels, and not get cooked up. T20 is a fast game and the boys need all their energy, so we're making sure to give them sufficient rest as well in between matches," Harris concluded.
(Inputs from ANI)
