Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene confirmed that batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was stretchered off during their opening game against Rising Pune Supergiant, is ruled out for at least 7-8 days with a grade 1 groin tear.
Rayudu was carried off the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune on a stretcher during the 16th over of the Supergiant’s chase and the commentator on air, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “we reckon it could be groin or hamstring” as there was some doubt over what had actually transpired.
The Sri Lankan legend, who is in his maiden season as coach of the franchise, also confirmed that the Indian international, who has been an integral part of the MI set-up will have his situation assessed after that. During the eight days that Rayudu is expected to be out for MI have a tight schedule that includes four matches that the 31-year-old will definitely miss.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017 Schedule: Full time table with venue ground details, PDF download
Mumbai have a packed schedule in the next week as they play four games between April 9 and April 16. They take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on April 9. Their first home game is against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 12. They play two days after that in Bengaluru against Royal Challengers Bangalore and on April 16, Gujarat Lions visit the Wankhede stadium.
Rayudu will definitely miss these four matches and will be looking to make it into the side for their game against Kings XI Punjab on April 20. Irrespective of whether he makes it or not, he has joined a growing list of injured players in the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Indian stars KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Ravichandran Ashwin along with overseas stars Mitchell Marsh, Quinton de Kock have all been ruled out of the tournament with an injury, while the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Angelo Mathews, and Dwayne Bravo are all currently unfit and haven't played a game in this year’s IPL. Others such as Umesh Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested for the initial part of the season.
MI will have to find a way around not having one of their most consistent performers for the following week and adjust accordingly in order to bounce back from the defeat in their opening game of IPL 2017.
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