Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming revealed on Wednesday that skipper MS Dhoni is nursing a knee injury, which has hindered his ability to run quickly between the wickets.

During the unsuccessful run-chase of 176 runs against Rajasthan Royals at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday, MS did not run like he used to, which was also the case during the team’s intra-squad practice game ahead of the IPL. Dhoni was also seen wearing a kneecap in the side’s pre-season camp in Chennai.

“He is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movement, which is hindering him somewhat. But still what you saw today is a great player for us. His fitness has always been very professional,” said Fleming as quoted by ESPNCricinfo after the match.

Despite his fitness issues, Dhoni has been striking the ball extremely well. On Wednesday, he smashed 32* off just 17 balls with four and three sixes, almost winning the match for his side, but fell three runs short. He has scored 58 runs in three innings this season at an average of 58.00 and a strike rate of almost 215. He finished unbeaten twice. Dhoni has smashed two fours and six sixes so far in IPL 2023, with 44 runs out of 58 coming through fours and sixes and 36 runs just coming through the sixes. Even in the nets, Dhoni has been regularly launching the ball into the skies.

Fleming brushed aside concerns about Dhoni’s fitness and lauded the skipper for managing his fitness ahead of IPL 2023, which is likely to be his last season in the league.

“He comes a month before the tournament starts, so he does not get the opportunity to do a lot [before that]. He will stay fit, they will do some netting in Ranchi, but his main pre-season [fitness] is done a month before when he comes to Chennai. And he works his way back into match form and I think you can still see he is playing pretty well. So we never have any doubts about the way he manages himself and he always gets himself up to speed,” said Fleming.

But the mounting injuries in seam attack are concerning the coach, with Sisanda Magala bowling only two overs against RR before he was forced to leave the field due to split webbing. This will leave him out of action for two weeks. He had joined the side as a replacement for New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson, who has been ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury. CSK is also without their left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary, who will also miss this IPL due to injury after a breakout season last year. Magala’s injury is a huge blow to CSK, especially in away matches as his yorkers, slow variations offer a lot to the side. He can also deliver big hits with the bat. The only other seamer from the overseas category is Sri Lanka’s Matheesha Pathirana, who had arrived to Chennai from NZ on Monday. He has also just recovered from COVID-19. Maheesh Theekshana, another Sri Lankan, made a return to the side against RR but went wicketless, giving away 42 runs in four overs.

“For us again, it is losing another player – that is two games in a row – and we are already pretty thin, so we would like it [injuries] to stop,” Fleming said.

“Magala’s hand was split unfortunately, so he was unable to bowl those last two overs. And same with Deepak Chahar in the last game, so we are operating on pretty thin resources. But we are not the only team to have that,” added the coach.

Chahar, who had sustained a hamstring injury against Mumbai Indians recently after delivering one over, is two-three weeks away from returning to the field. Seamer Simarjeet Singh, who had missed almost the whole of the last Indian domestic season is still recovering from his injury. He had a nets session, but often missed his run-up, and lacked the rhythm that had impressed the CSK leadership last season. He has not played any competitive game since the last IPL.

“I think a lot of players coming out of a big domestic season are a little bit broken, but we just keep having to find solutions. So we will do that in the next four days. But yeah, it is not ideal yet. The captain has to then think on his feet [if bowlers keep getting injured]. Moeen Ali had to come back [after Magala hurt his webbing] and he had not had a great day [but] he got the wicket of [Jos] Buttler which was good. And you have got young players like Akash [Singh] who is coming in for his first game, having to bowl some key overs. It is not how we plan but T20 very rarely goes to plan,” said the coach.

Even the England all-rounder Ben Stokes, CSK’s marquee pick at 2023 IPL auction at Rs 16.25 has missed two games, against MI and RR. It is understood to be due to his knee issues. He has managed just 15 runs in two games and has delivered a wicketless over.

Moeen Ali had also missed game against Mumbai, with a stomach bug, but returned against the Royals.

CSK have a five-day break before they lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on April 17. (ANI)