Mumbai Indians franchise has suffered a big blow as Ambati Rayudu, their middle order batsman has been ruled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) for at least 10 days.
Rayudu suffered a groin injury during the side’s tie against Rising Pune Supergiant and was stretched off the field soon after the end of the strategic timeout.
There was news that he had either pulled off his hamstring or had suffered a groin injury, and the news was confirmed by Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene ahead of their game against Kolkata Knight Riders,
“Rayudu has had a scan, he’s got a grade-1 tear. We’ll assess him after about seven to eight days. Then he’ll start some casual rehab training. We just need to work on him on a weekly basis and see how best we could get him back to playing fitness. So for now, at least for 10 days he’s going to be out and we’ll decide after that,” said Jayawardene.
“He (Rayudu) will take at least seven to eight days before he can start his rehab work. And then we’ll have to assess him. So I can’t put a time-frame (on his comeback), how many days (he’ll be out). It has to come from the medical unit, who’s looking after him. They’ll give me a feedback and whenever we get that feedback we’ll be happy to give you that,” he added.
Mahela also confirmed that Sri Lankan duo Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne have joined the Mumbai Indians camp ahead of their second game.
Both Malinga and Gunaratne missed the opening fixture for their team as they were on their national duty against Bangladesh.
In the first game, apart from two back to back sixes from Steven Smith, it was the dropping of Harbhajan Singh from the side that made sound but Jayawardene said that it was a tactical move to bench Harbhajan for the game,
“Harbhajan wasn’t dropped (for the match against Pune). It’s just a combination that we decided tactically. Given the opposition, that’s the way we wanted to go. They had eight right-handers in the top ten, except for Stokes.”
Mumbai Indians will face Kolkata Knight Riders in their next away game at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The visitors lost their first game against Rising Pune Supergiant, whereas, Kolkata Knight Riders are coming in after sealing an emphatic win over Gujarat Lions.