In what could be a huge blow for India’s World Cup campaign, Kedar Jadhav is likely to miss the playoffs of the Indian Premier League season after picking up a shoulder injury in Chennai Super Kings’ last league match of the season in Mohali on Sunday.
Fielding in the deep during Kings XI Punjab’s run-chase, Jadhav dived and landed badly on his left shoulder while preventing an overthrow from Ravindra Jadeja going for four in the 14th over. In the process, he hurt his left shoulder when putting in a dive. He immediately walked off the field with physio Erik Simmons.
“Kedar Jadhav is in some discomfort and getting an x-ray and a scan tomorrow,” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said after the match. “We are hopeful for him however the chances for him to further participate in the tournament are very bleak. So now his attention will turn to what it looks like for the World Cup. Fingers crossed but it didn’t look that good.”
CSK, despite losing the match to Kings XI Punjab by six wickets, managed to finish inside the top two with 18 points from 14 matches. Defending champions CSK will play qualifier of the playoff either against Mumbai Indians or Delhi Capitals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.
Jadhav had a disappointing season with CSK in 2019. In the last league match, he was dismissed cheaply for a first-ball duck by Mohammad Shami. He managed just 162 runs in 12 innings. More importantly, he had not been called up to bowl during the entire season most probably due to some kind of minor injury.
India will be reportedly leaving to England for the World Cup on 22 May. Their opener is against South Africa on June 5. Team India will be fretting over Jadhav’s injury as he is a part of the 15-man squad named for the 2019 World Cup.