Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Flemming revealed that senior all-rounder Ben Stokes is not 100 per cent which is the reason why he didn’t bowl in the opening match of Indian Premier League 2023 against Gujarat Titans on Friday. CSK failed to defend the 179-run target in their first match of the season as the bowlers failed to cause many problems for the defending champions who hold their nerves to get over the line.
Stokes, who was bought for a whopping INR 16.25 crore, failed to get going with the bat and scored just 7 runs, while he didn’t take the ball in the Gujrat Titans innings. He recently sustained a knee injury and still recovering to get his bowling fitness.
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Flemming suggested that the English all-rounder is making good progress but the team management didn’t want to take any chance with his fitness.
“He’s progressing well. He had a fair time off between the last Test match and getting here. And he had some medical work done on the knee. We want to do the right thing by making sure that he’s a 100 percent ready to go. He’s not there yet, and that includes bowling form. We are working closely with him, but he’s making really good progress,” Fleming said after the Gujarat Titans game.
However, the CSK head coach is impressed with Stokes and said he is positive about his approach.
“Really happy with what he’s done so far. I think he feels pretty positive about the progress he’s made. That’s another addition to the side – when he starts bowling. We’ve got some good players to come in, and we’ve introduced some players today. So not all bad,” Fleming said.
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CSK bowlers failed to put pressure on the Gujarat Titans batters as apart from Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Ravindra Jadeja no other player failed to impress with the ball. Debutant Hangargekar claimed three wickets, while Jadeja was economical with his figures of 1/28.
While the CSK batters struggled to take advantage of the foundation laid by Ruturaj Gaikwad who smashed Gujarat Titans all around the park. Ruturaj scored 92 runs off 50 balls while the rest of the batters just managed 78 off 71. In the first 10 overs, CSK managed to hit 93 runs, while the run flow dipped in the last 10 as they scored 85 in the final 60 deliveries.
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