Big Blows For CSK, LSG! Ace Pacers Might Not Play In IPL 2024 Again: Reports

Deepak Chahar celebrates the wicket of Lucknow Super Giants' Quinton de Kock. Photo : AP

In what has come as a huge blow to the below-average campaign of defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants ' third consecutive playoff dreams, Deepak Chahar and Mayank Yadav are not likely to play any more part in IPL 2024 . Both have suffered mid-season injuries and their further participation in the remaining games for their respective teams is under clouds, according to a report in Cricbuzz.

Chahar, who had missed two matches with a niggle earlier in IPL 2024, bowled just two deliveries on Wednesday evening against the Punjab Kings before pulling up and leaving the field.

While Shardul Thakur filled in for him and completed the over, Chahar did not return, expectedly raising eyebrows on the pacer's fitness. Chennai were already without Matheesha Pathirana, who was out with a niggle and Tushar Deshpande, who did not travel to the ground because of flu.

"Deepak injury is not looking good. I will not say he is ruled out of the season but doubtful," Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of Chennai said of their new ball bowler, who pulled his hamstring.

Chennai will play Punjab, again, in their next match in Dharamsala on Sunday afternoon and Chahar, a Rs 14 crore acquisition, has not travelled to the Himachal city.

"He has stayed back in Chennai. We're waiting for a report from the medical team," Viswanathan told Cricbuzz.

After the last match, while head coach Stephen Fleming did not specify the nature and extent, of Chahar's injury, he suggested that signs were not promising.

"Yeah, the travelogue is pretty busy. There's a lot of ins and outs. So, Deepak Chahar doesn't look good. The initial feeling wasn't great. So, I'm hoping for a more positive report when the physio and the doctor have a look," Fleming had said.

Speaking of Pathirana and Deshpande, Viswanathan said, "We will know about their availability only on Sunday."

After a good beginning to IPL 2024, Chennai have suffered losses in three of the last four matches, including consecutive reverses to Lucknow. They have 10 points from 10 matches and are in fifth position in the points table.

Chennai required at least three victories in the remaining matches and the injury worries might have come at a wrong time.

Mayank walked out of Lucknow's last match, after bowling 3.1 overs and sources told Cricbuzz that the side strain that laid him low for a few matches, before he was drafted into the match against the Mumbai Indians on April 30, has resurfaced.

LSG next play the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, May 5 at home.

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