Johannesburg - Proteas star Sisanda Magala will miss the next three Indian Premier League matches for his team Chennai Super Kings after sustaining an injury against the Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday evening.
Magala injured his hand while taking Ravichandran Ashwin's catch and has been ruled out for at least a fortnight.
The all-rounder had bowled impressively at the death on his IPL debut last week, but was not able to return to the attack at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after delivering two overs upfront for 14 runs. Batter Ambati Rayudu replaced Magala as an impact player during CSK’s run-chase, but the home team ultimately fell three runs short.
Magala’s loss is a massive blow to CSK with the former IPL champions suffering a spate of injuries in recent weeks. The Gqeberha-born star was already a replacement for New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson, while Indian seamer Deepak Chahar also picked up an injury in the last game. England Test captain Ben Stokes is also currently on the sidelines.
"For us again, it's losing another player - that's two games in a row - and we're already pretty thin, so we'd like it [injuries] to stop," CSK coach Stephen 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're operating on pretty thin resources.”
Incidentally, Magala only recently returned from a split webbing hand injury that ruled him out of the Proteas’ ODI series against the West Indies last month.
He made his comeback in the T20I series against the West Indies, and also starred in the subsequent Netherlands ODI series where he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul, but there were still stitches in his hand from the injury.
Magala was extremely cautious in the field in order not to jeopardise his IPL chances after receiving call-up from CSK.
"You just have to try your best, to try to take the ball in such a way that you protect that area," he explained at the time. "Any wrong fielding of the ball could tear [the stitching] again and set me back 10 days.”
CSK's next match is against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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IOL Sport