After recovering from one injury at the start of the season, Dwayne Bravo is learnt to have had another setback. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fast bowling all-rounder could be "out for a few days or a couple of weeks" due to a groin injury, said head coach Stephen Fleming.
The latest injury was the reason why CSK's usual death-overs saviour wasn't there to help them defend the 17 runs which Delhi Capitals (DC) required off the final over in Sharjah on Saturday (October 17). Ultimately, the opposition reached the 180-run target with three sixes against left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
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"He (Bravo) seems to have a right groin injury, obviously it was serious enough to keep him from coming back to the field, he is just really disappointed that he was not able to bowl the final over, that's pretty much for what he is in the team for," said Fleming at the post-match press conference, as quoted by PTI.
"He would have to be reassessed going forward, at this stage, you would imagine that it would take a few days or a couple of weeks," the coach added.
Despite Bravo's inability to bowl, MS Dhoni had the option of leg-spinner Karn Sharma (0/34), who could've taken the ball away from the two left-handers, Shikhar Dhawan (101*) and Akshar Patel (21*), with the googly, but the skipper instead preferred Jadeja (0/35).
"Unfortunately Dwayne Bravo got injured so he could not bowl the last over, naturally he is a death bowler, that's the way our season has been going, we are having challenges thrown at us," said Fleming.
"Jadeja was not planned to bowl at the death, but with Bravo getting injured, we did not have any other option. We did well to create a situation where it could have worked for us but we have to keep working hard and turn it around," he added.
Fleming praised Dhawan for the commanding fashion in which he batted for his maiden IPL hundred under pressure, but also rued the dropped chances CSK fielders had off his bat.
"Well, we gave Shikhar Dhawan a few lives, he was playing well, we had opportunities to take his wicket early but we did not take them."
"He was playing aggressively and he was staying right up there with the required run-rate, if we had got him out, we could have put pressure on their middle-lower order, the game might have been different, dropping three-four catches against him was a bit too many," said the former New Zealand captain.
Deepak Chahar (2/18) and Bravo (1/23) were the pick of the bowlers within the CSK attack. In the first half, Faf du Plessis (58) and Shane Watson (36) batted well and laid a nice foundation to a brutal final flourish which Ambati Rayudu (45*) and Jadeja (33*) provided them and took the total to 179/4.
Fleming said the batting performance on the night from his team was quite "promising".
"It was difficult early on, the way we played in the back five was promising, some good hitting from us to get there at 180, we if had taken our chances, it would have been a match-winning score but it was not to be," he signed off.
With six defeats in nine matches, CSK currently stand in the bottom half of the points table. The team next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 19).
