'Doctors had said you can't play cricket because of this injury'- CSK's Subhranshu Senapati recalls U19 days

One of the unknown commodities, and yet to be unearthed in IPL is Chennai Super Kings batter Subhranshu Senapati who hasn’t made his debut in the cash-rich tournament. Senapati got picked up for his base price of INR 20 Lakh in the IPL 2022 mega auction by the CSK franchise. However, with one of the strongest batting groups, it was always going to be tough for the Odisha cricketer to get into the playing XI despite the young bowlers like Mukesh Choudhary, and Simarjeet Singh making their IPL debut recently.

Senapati has some impressive numbers in the domestic tournaments so far with an average of nearly 29 and a strike rate of 122 in 26 T20 games. He recently captained Odisha in the latest Ranji Trophy season and mostly bats in the top order which makes it even tougher for him to get into the CSK lineup with the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad occupying a spot. The 25-year-old, recently revealed about his early U19 days when an injury threatened his cricketing career.

The arrival of the new pair of spikes motivated me: Subhranshu Senapati

Senapati revealed that he injured his wrist ahead of the zonal camp which restricted him from practicing and physios could not treat him as well. He noted surgery was the only way suggested by a doctor after coming to know that he had a fracture and mentioned how the doctor had created panic around his cricket career due to the injury.

“It was the 2014-15 season, I was in the U19 days. Two days prior to the zonal camp, I got injured while preparing and training for the camp. I did not know the depth of the injury then and went to the camp. I tried practicing but I couldn’t do it. I had injured my wrist. The physios tried to treat my injury but it didn’t work.”

“Upon getting an X-ray done, I realized it was a fracture. I consulted the best surgeon we had in my local area, and he said surgery is the only option. I had surgery, and I couldn’t play cricket for a year. The doctors had told me ‘you can’t play cricket because of this injury’,” Senapati told in a video posted by the CSK franchise.

He added that he did not get the kits as he missed the camp but instead got the spikes alone which he took as a good motivation to start playing the game soon.

“Usually, everybody got kits and spikes during zonal camps. As I didn’t join the camp, I didn’t get the kits. And then, I received a pair of spikes from the camp. At that moment, I realized that I will get better soon and start playing again. The arrival of the new pair of spikes motivated me, even more, to come back and practice harder,” he added.