IPL 2018: Suresh Raina Suffers out with injury, gets ruled out of Chennai Super Kings' next two matches

IPL 2018: Suresh Raina Suffers calf injury, gets ruled out of Chennai Super Kings' next two matches Suresh Raina of Chennai

 Indian cricketer Suresh Raina, who rejoined the Chennai Super Kings squad ahead of the start of the 2018 Indian Premier League season, has been ruled out of the next two matches with a calf injury.

CSK have won the opening two fixtures of IPL season 11, with all of them being nail-biters. With Raina now out from the next two matches against Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, it remains to be seen how the Chennai outfit overcome his absence.The news comes Kedar Jadhav had was ruled out of the entire season with a hamstring injury. It has also been learnt that Raina "suffered a calf injury" during their last encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.

Raina, who has failed to fire in the first two matches for CSK, would likely get Murali Vijay open the innings and get Ambati Rayudu down the order even though the latter has been a good new-ball striker in the IPL.Faf du Plessis, the South Africa skipper, who is recovering from a finger injury and side strain, is likely to be drafted in the playing XI, while Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, N Jagadeesan and David Willey are some of the options for the next match against Punjab.

Chennai have had the best start to the new season, although a littler nervy one. After Dwayne Bravo's 30-ball 68 inspired them to a one-wicket win versus Mumbai, Sam Billings' quick-fire fifty helped the side to chase down a massive target of 203 against Kolkata most recently.

CSK Squad: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, David Willey, Dwayne Bravo. Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Lungisani Ngidi, Asif K M, N Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi

Can Sun Risers cope up without David Warner?

Into their sixth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) look a formidable unit after the 2018 IPL auction, despite having lost their banned skipper David Warner due to a ball-tampering scandal.

Warner, who admitted to pre-meditated ball tampering in the Cape Town Test against South Africa, was handed a 12-month ban by Cricket Australia and subsequently, the BCCI barred him from participating in the upcoming edition of the IPL, starting April 7. The absence of Warner, the highest run-getter in the 2017 edition, has no doubt come as a setback for the 2016 IPL champions and the onus is now on New Zealander Kane Williamson to steer the side to their second title. Despite warming the bench for a major part of the last edition, Williamson, with his experience of leading his national side, will need to instil the confidence in the side in the company of former skipper and opener Shikhar Dhawan, who also will be expected to shoulder more responsibility at the top of the order.

Among the two names to be retained by the Sunrisers before the auction along with Warner, is rightfully paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the top wicket-taker in both the 2016 and 2017 editions. Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan too is expected to tweak some magic again.

English power-hitter Alex Hales, who was named as Warner's replacement will be valuable at the top of the order with Dhawan while the inclusion of wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey, will bolster the middle order. Saha, who recently scored a century off 20 balls in club cricket, has the potential to turn around matches in a matter of few deliveries, while the lower order comprising all-rounders Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Brathwaite and Shakib Al Hasan can be handy options with the bat.

The support staff consisting of Tom Moody, V.V.S.Laxman, Muttiah Muralitharan also adds to their strength.

Squad: Kane Williamson (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Sandeep Sharma, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal.

Hard Hitting Klaasen comes to Rajasthan Royals for Banned Steve Smith

The countdown has begun for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier league and with only a handful of days left, franchises are making last-minute additions to their squads.

Returning after a two-year ban, Rajasthan Royals are slated to begin their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. After Steve Smith was ruled out of the 11th edition following the ball-tampering scandal, South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen has been named as his replacement. Smith was due to lead the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming edition of the T20I lucrative league, but he was banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after being imposed a 12-month suspension by the Cricket Australia for his involvement in ball-tampering scandal that took place during the four-match Test series against South Africa.

Considered as one of the few South African players to have managed to cope with Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, Klaseen has been bought at his base price of Rs 50 lakh after being went unsold at the IPL Players Auction that took place in Bengaluru in January, ESPNcricinfo reported. Klaseen, who made his international debut for South Africa against Indian in February, has a strike rate of 146 after 44 innings in the shortest format of the game.

The updated squad of Rajasthan Royals is as follows: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Prashant Chopra, Heinrich Klaasen, Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jatin Saxena, Mahipal Lomror, Zahir Khan, Shreyas Gopal, Midhun S, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ben Laughlin

Great news for KKR fans : Lynn and Narine are back in Kolkata Knight Riders Net practice

A fit-again Chris Lynn was seen batting in full flow along with Sunil Narine as two-time former champions Kolkata Knight Riders geared up for the Indian Premier League with a practice match at the Eden Gardens.

Having recovered sufficiently from a dislocated shoulder suffered during the recent T20I tri-series against Australia, Lynn headed to training less than 24 hours after he joined along with veteran speedster Mitchell Johnson, who opted to rest.

Johnson's stocks have risen somewhat after an injury to Mitchell Starc has ruled the Aussie spearhead out of the tournament, forcing KKR to name named English medium pacer Tom Curran as the replacement.

Lynn's history of shoulder problems has led to the Queenslander practising at the nets back home with a specially-designed shoulder stabiliser that rugby league star Johnathan Thurston has given him.

"The docs and the physios are happy so that's all I can do Fingers crossed I can keep going in the right direction. I'm doing everything I can to get back out there, Lynn had told Cricket Australia.

Having reported for a suspect bowling action yet again in the Pakistan Super League last month, Narine bowled in tandem along with the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla as the Knights sweated it out in the evening for more than three hours.

The team-think tank also paid special attention to the pitch as new skipper Dinesh Karthik along with chief coach Jacques Kallis and bowling coach Heath Streak spoke to former India captain and Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly and pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee.

Renowned adventurer and explorer, Mike Horn, who's back with KKR, was also seen on the sidelines of their training session.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that KKR's star owner Shah Rukh Khan will come to cheer for their IPL opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore here on April 8.

The Bollywood superstar is currently busy shooting for a movie in the USA and he's expected for the first match, a KKR official said.