His hand was bruising, it was the same hand that broke sometime back: Stephen Fleming

It was an eventful evening on 25 April as Punjab Kings (PBKS), and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) met in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at Wankhede Stadium. PBKS secured victory by 11 runs, which came despite the exploits of middle-order batter Ambati Rayudu.

PBKS posted a substantial total of 187 on the board on the back of stellar knocks of an unbeaten 88 from Shikhar Dhawan and 42 from Bhanuka Rajapaksa. In response, CSK had a bad start and were down by three wickets within the first seven overs of the chase.

Then arrived the seasoned campaigner Rayudu at the crease, who stitched a 49-run stand with opener Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, after the wicket of Gaikwad in the 13th over, he gradually changed his gears in pursuit of chasing down the score.

In the 16th over, Guntur-born slammed three consecutive sixes and a single four off Sandeep Sharma and pushed down the required run rate from 14 to around 12. However, he was bowled over by Kagiso Rabada in the 18th over. He departed for 78 off 39 balls, comprising seven fours and six sixes.

The head coach of CSK, Stephen Fleming, spoke after the culmination of the game and revealed that Rayudu was batting in pain, as he had already sustained an injury in the 1st innings during one of his fielding efforts. His answer came to the questions raised by commentators on his stamina, where he was seen panting during the innings.

"The first check was around the break, and his hand was bruising. It was just a case of icing that and getting that down and, I think, a little padding around the glove. It was the same hand that was broken sometime back, so it's still pretty tender, and a knock like that can obviously cause some damage," revealed Fleming.

After the dismissal of Rayudu, the duo of Jadeja-Dhoni tried well but could not provide a flourish, with the latter also getting dismissed in the last over. In the end, the team fell short by 11 runs.

With this win, PBKS climbed up to the sixth position in the points table with four wins, while CSK, on the other hand, maintained their second to last place with just two wins in 8 appearances.

In the next league match, PBKS will be up against LSG on 29 April, while CSK will face SRH on 1 May.