Chennai Super Kings pacer Khaleel Ahmed has been ruled out of the IPL due to a quadriceps injury. Ahmed, who was part of all the five games CSK have played thus far, reported pain in his right hip during the previous game against KKR on April 14. He was one of the consistent performers for CSK in the initial stage of the tournament. “It is a grade 2 tear and the rehab will take at least 10-12 weeks,” said an IPL source. The left arm pacer has played 11 ODIs and 18 T20s for India with the last appearance coming in July 2024.

Earlier, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad on Tuesday said it is “coming together slowly” for Chennai Super Kings after the five-time IPL winners recorded a second consecutive win, beating Kolkata Knight Riders by 32 runs here.

Undergoing a transition, CSK came into this contest after a comprehensive 23-run win over Delhi Capitals and produced another convincing show to beat KKR and move one spot up to eighth in the points table.

“Slowly, slowly, it is starting to come together, I feel,” Gaikwad told broadcaster after the match.

“Everyone kind of knows what their role is, which overs and what lengths to bowl at. I think they are adjusting and adapting really well according to what (the) team needs.

“As I said, slowly, slowly, we are getting better and better and that is a good sign for us,” he said.

Gaikwad said CSK were aiming for a total in range of 220 but what they eventually put on the board — 192/5 — was also good enough.

“We defended a good score. I felt it was a par score, given that the wicket drastically changed after the first seven or eight overs,” he said.

“It started spinning a bit, it started stopping a bit. We were first looking at 220, 210, but then, we thought anything around 190, 180 would be a good score and after that, we just had to get a good power play in bowling,” Gaikwad added.

CSK’s win was set up by Noor Ahmad (4-0-21-3), who broke the back of KKR’s chase with a flurry of wickets. The Afghan spinner said it was important to keep his fingers dry in the hot and humid conditions.

“The dew was there, and it was humid, so (I was trying to) keep my fingers dry and that helped me a lot to hit the right areas,” he said.

“I think the ball was not coming really well to the bat and to get advantage of that, it was good. I will keep putting effort to contribute for my team in the coming matches,” he said.

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An unfavourable gate draw risks deferring Desert Lightning’s campaign opener at Mornington.

Desert Lightning pulled the widest post position in the Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m) featuring 17 entries for Saturday, with 60kg and Luke Nolen riding.

The race accepts up to 15 plus two emergencies on Saturday.

Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman’s charge is back first-up Saturday, idle since the Crystal Mile (1600m) during spring at Moonee Valley last October.

Coleman mentioned they’ll assess running wide on Saturday versus scratching for later.

“He’s really just there first-up for a fitness run, so we’ll have a good look at the race and see whether we save him for another day,” Coleman said.

“It’s not the end of the world.”

Coleman suggested Desert Lightning’s prep trajectory points toward Queensland’s Winter Carnival.

He ran fourth in Eagle Farm’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) last June, remaining a key aim for his team this year.

Coleman noted the veteran Desert Lightning is tuning up effectively for winter.

“He’s trialled really nicely this time,” Coleman said.

“He’s nice and fresh, he seems in a good headspace for an older horse. He’s really enjoying his work.

“Whether he runs first-up on Saturday, or whether we wait another day, we’ll make that decision, but I think he can run well if we decide to go there.”

She’s Got Pizzazz from the same barn squeezed into the field at barrier 8, ridden by Linda Meech.

Any easing of the Mornington going would help She’s Got Pizzazz, who resumes with two 1100m runs after rest.

Wednesday’s rating had Mornington at Soft 5 upon acceptances.

“She’s ideally looking for 1400 metres now, but she needs another one at the 1200 (metres) to bring her on fitness wise,” Coleman said.

“She needs soft ground as well to see her at her best, so we’ll be on weather watch a little bit there as well.”

Find competitive racing betting markets for the Hareeba Stakes at leading sites.

An under pressure Kolkata Knight Riders would be hoping to arrest their steep slide against a resurgent Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Friday. Under captain Ajinkya Rahane and coach Abhishek Nayar, KKR have struggled for clarity, slumping to four defeats in five matches and still searching for their first win of the season. It’s their misfortune that their bowling had weakened significantly before the tournament following the injury setbacks to Harshit Rana and Akash Deep and the release of Mustafizur Rahman on BCCI instructions.

But the bigger concern was the dip in form of their spin mainstays Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. The Indian spinner is still in the struggle phase and is yet to take a wicket this season.

KKR’s problems have also been compounded by questionable decisions on and off the field decisions.

Leaving out players like Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra have raised eyebrows, while their choices after winning the toss have been baffling.

In the rain-hit washout against Punjab Kings, Rahane surprised everyone by choosing to bat, while against Chennai Super Kings he opted to bowl first on a surface that clearly favoured the bowlers.

Their first match defeat to Mumbai Indians after failing to defend 220 set the tone, and the heavy 65-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad at home only deepened the slide.

Since then, KKR have looked a side short on direction.

Much of the spotlight was on Cameron Green, bought for a record Rs 25.20 crore to fill the void left by Andre Russell.

The Australian all-rounder has struggled to justify that price tag, managing just 56 runs in five innings and making limited impact with the ball after being cleared to bowl.

The batting order, too, has looked confusing.

Sunil Narine was pushed up to open in their chase of 193, while Rahane, who has his best strike-rate in the power play, dropped to No 3, and neither move worked as KKR managed only 160/7 against CSK.

And then there is the unused domestic firepower of Manish Pandey, Rahul Tripathi and Sarthak Ranjan, who all are still warming the bench.

KKR now need something magical to turn it around and they must first address their tactical lapses.

They may also turn to the 2015 comeback story of Mumbai Indians who won the title after they losing five of their first six matches.

Gujarat Titans too are yet to win at home, having lost their only game here to Rajasthan Royals but since then they have bounced back with two morale-boosing away wins.

Their bowling has looked settled, with Prasidh Krishna delivering in the middle and death overs, and Rashid Khan rediscovering rhythm.

With Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler finding form, Gujarat Titans head into the contest with far greater balance and confidence.

Squads: Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Gurnoor Brar, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Sharma, Jason Holder, Tom Banton, Luke Wood, Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Jayant Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Blessing Muzarabani, Navdeep Saini, Prashant Solanki, Finn Allen, Daksh Kamra, Kartik Tyagi, Sarthak Ranjan, Saurabh Dubey Match starts: 7.30pm.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai has struggled to adjust in the Major League Baseball following a three-year, $54 million deal in the offseason. The 27-year-old Japanese right-hander was placed on IL after just three starts with right arm fatigue.

While the imaging results turned out positive, Imai is yet to adjust to the new schedule both on and off the field. The club is now focusing on building his arm strength and adjusting to a larger MLB ball.

“He’s not able to adjust to the American lifestyle,” Tatsuya Imai’s interpreter, Shio Enomoto, said. “Baseball and outside of baseball. That’s probably the reason (for his arm fatigue).”

While there’s no timeline for Imai’s return, Astros manager Joe Espada is remaining “pretty positive” on his comeback. In his first 8 ⅔ innings, Imai has a 7.27 ERA.

“I think the strength of the arm is still not quite there yet, but it’s coming around. All the tests have come back (with) no issues. Just trying to get that strength back,” manager Joe Espada said. “Once the arm strength starts coming back, then we can start talking about him playing catch.”

Following Friday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, Tatsuya Imai addressed the mound at T-Mobile Park as “really hard” to pitch. He’s also troubled with the 64-degree weather, which is “not usual in Japan.”

Astros general manager discusses Tatsuya Imai’s adjustment to MLB

Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown talked about Tatsuya Imai’s adjustment issue in MLB on Astros radio 790 AM. He said the team is helping the player fit in and adjust to a new environment.

“You have to remember the human element as well,” Dana Brown said. “There’s an adjustment period. He’s used to eating at certain times … if he feels like there’s a mound difference, there’s a difference to the baseball, these are all growing pains where guys learn to make adjustments.”

Apart from the weather, MLB ball, and the mound issues, Imai also brought up the meal timings as an ongoing adjustment process. The Houston Astros recently completed their 10-game road trip, and the Japanese pitcher found it hard to cope with.

Imai said that he usually has meals in a hotel after a game, but here the players have their dinner at the stadium. The timing for it is also something the Japanese pitcher is not used to. However, he’s open to adjustment and believes it’ll all be fine once he tries to make some changes.