Ashish Nehra ruled out of the play offs due to a hamstring injury

Veteran left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra who is a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) has been ruled out of the playoffs after the 38-year-old pulled a hamstring muscle. Sunrisers coach Tom Moody confirmed his absence ahead of their must win eliminator clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Yuvraj Singh’s place also looks in doubt and Moody conceded that the southpaw has to prove his fitness ahead of the match but they were reasonably confident about his participation. Both Nehra and Yuvraj has missed a few games for their franchise and it was not too long ago that the duo made a comeback in the national colours.

“Ashish Nehra won’t be fit for the remainder of the tournament. Yuvraj will be undergoing a fitness test this evening. We’ll be giving him every opportunity to prove his fitness and at this stage, we’re reasonably confident”, Moody was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

VVS Laxman concedes it is not the recurrence of a previous injury

The veteran fast bowler suffered a hamstring injury even last year and had to undergo a surgery. It was speculated that it was a relapse of that injury but Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman confirmed that it was a new injury and had nothing to do with his past niggles. In the ongoing season, Nehra has been a part of the playing XI on 8 occasions, bagging 6 wickets at an impressive average of 23.53 and an economy rate of 7.84.

Even in the previous tournament which Hyderabad won by defeating Bangalore in the final, Nehra could only play 8 matches and bagged 9 wickets. The absence of Nehra has worked wonders for young guns like Siddharth Kaul and Mohammed Siraj. Both the youngsters have accepted their opportunities gleefully and have been consistent with the ball in hand in the tournament so far. While Kaul has been consistent with his line and length and pace, Siraj bagged 4 wickets in the previous match to help SRH cruise to a win against the Gujarat Lions in their last home game.