The yellow army management has confirmed that Dewald Bravis is set to miss the first game for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals, ruling him out with a side strain. Just one day after the report of MS Dhoni, this is going to be a big blow for the batting order. With CSK aiming for an explosive batting season, missing on Bravis and MS Dhoni can hurt the plans for the five-time champions. Last year, Dewald Bravis joined the yellow army as a replacement for Gurjapaneet Singh and played a prominent role in the latter half of the tournament.
This year, CSK planned to use the South African young star as one of the prominent hitters in the middle overs. Now with no Bravis in the opener, CSK can use Matthew Short as a replacement or Akeal Hossein as an extra spinner.
Who fills the Brevis void for CSK?
For the replacement of Bravis, Matthew Short from Australia is available. He has also seen rounding his arm with the ball in the practice matches. Matthew Short’s number is incredible in T20Is, though he has been left out of the World Cup squad; he can be used as a like-for-like replacement in the opener.
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CSK can also use Akeal Hossein as a floater for the first match; he will give proper four overs with the ball. Recently, Hossein has emerged as one of the finest all-rounders of the format.
What can the XI of CSK look like?
If CSK goes with Short, then they can go with their normal planning, but MS Dhoni’s unavailability down the order can make CSK go with Akeal Hossein. It is going to be a difficult decision for them.
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Probable XI
Ruturaj Gaikwad(C), Sanju Samson(WK), Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Matthew Short, Kartik Sharma, Akeal Hossein, Matt Henry, Noor Ahmed, Spencer Johnshon
Impact Sub- Prashant Veer/ Khaleel Ahmed/Anshul Kamboj/ Ramakrishna Ghosh
