IPL 2018: Murali Vijay declared fit for CSK’s next game

The Chennai Super Kings have a love affair with the IPL. They have been great entertainers on the field and continue to provide high voltage performances since the inception of the IPL. This season has been no different as they delivered two absolute nail-biters having come out on top on both the occasions.

Silver lining

However, injury problems are starting to mount for CSK as several players from the squad are not match ready. Mitchell Santner and Kedar Jadhav are already ruled out of the tournament while David Willey and Suresh Raina are not available for the next game. There are concerns over the fitness of the Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis as well. Amidst all the problems, one silver lining for the franchise is the fitness of Murali Vijay who has returned to full fitness and will be available for the next game.

Vijay suffered a blow on his ribs during a net session ahead of IPL opener against Mumbai Indians. The impact of the blow was such that Vijay could not get over the pain even after a week. In his absence, CSK opted to open with Ambati Rayudu who has done quite well in the last two games. Rayudu will move down the order if Vijay is included in the playing XI for the next game.

Chennai Super Kings will take on Kings XI Punjab in their next contest in an away game on April 15. Meanwhile, the home games of CSK have been moved to Pune due to political tensions in Tamil Nadu and raising concerns over players’ safety. The franchise made a comeback in IPL after two years and was playing its first home game. The Chennai fans might be deprived of home games next year as well due to general elections.

Squad: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Lungisani Ngidi, Asif KM, N Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi, David Willey.

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com