'We saw him limping quite heavily' - Matthew Hayden rings alarm bells for Chennai fans, shares update on Dhoni's fitness

Matthew Hayden, former Australia opener, has raised alarm bells for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans by sharing the news of CSK skipper MS Dhoni's injury. CSK suffered their second defeat in the IPL 2023 as they were defeated by Rajasthan Royals (RR) by three runs on Wednesday, April 12 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Notably, it was Dhoni's 200th match as captain of the four-time champions.  

Hayden stated after CSK's loss that Dhoni's fitness could be a concern for the Yellow Army. The former CSK batter also said that he noticed Dhoni hobbling during the game. He stated that the 41-year-old is normally quite swift between the 22 yards, however, it was not the case against Rajasthan.

“We will not give fans the false expectations that nothing’s wrong. There is definitely something wrong with MS Dhoni. His running between the wickets is usually quite electric, which was not there today," said Hayden to the broadcasters after the match.

“As the innings progressed on, we saw him limping quite heavily. There are some question marks, that I am sure that MS Dhoni will have to answer and the medical staff will get straight into it. He will want to keep playing in the tournament," he added.

Following the game, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming revealed that the skipper is nursing a knee injury. But the 41-year-old looked in fine form with the bat in hand as he hit some remarkable sixes. Notably, he scored an unbeaten 32 off 17 balls, forming a significant partnership with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (25* off 15 balls).

Coming to the match, MS Dhoni won the toss and invited RR to bat first. The visitors set a 176-run target, with opener Jos Buttler (52 off 36) scoring a half-century. For CSK, Akash Singh, Tushar Deshpande, and Ravindra Jadeja grabbed two wickets each and Moeen Ali scalped one.

During the chase, CSK lost their key wickets early. Dhoni and Jadeja came close to winning it for the team, but Sandeep Sharma's excellent bowling allowed RR to beat CSK by three runs.