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MI spinner Mitchell Santner revealed teammate Karn Sharma’s injury may keep him out of the IPL 2025 clash against CSK. Sharma sustained a cut while fielding, needing stitches.
Karn Sharma (L) was MI’s best performer against DC. (AP Photo)
Mumbai Indians (MI) spinner Mitchell Santner has said that his in-form teammate Karn Sharma has had a ‘nasty little cut’ and is not certain to start in Sunday’s big IPL 2025 clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The leg-spinner played his first match of the season against Delhi Capitals on April 13, taking three wickets in a match-winning performance. MI hoped for a similar show against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), but he got injured while fielding in just the third over of the innings and couldn’t bowl.
“He has got a couple of stitches in his hand,” Santner said in the pre-match press conference, as quoted by PTI. :He’s here today, I’m not sure if he’s bowling or if he’s available for tomorrow, but it looked like a nasty little cut and it’s a shame,” Santner said.
Santner will come against his former franchise CSK, who now have a different overseas lead spinner in Noor Ahmad, alongside Indian stalwarts Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Facing them could be a difficult task if the Wankhede continues to show a bit of help for spin.
“I’ve seen a lot of him recently, played against him, played with him in the MLC (Major League Cricket in the USA). Obviously, (he is) a great bowler,” Santner said.
“I guess the mystery — he’s hard to pick at times — we’ve seen through this tournament especially in Chennai, where there has been a little bit of assistance, he’s been outstanding. If it is going to be a slightly slower wicket like last game, we know he’s going to be a challenge. If they go to other spinners, they will be as well. You’ve got to be quite smart against him. If he gets on a roll, he’s pretty tough to stop. As we’ve seen, he has bowled extremely well,” Santner added.
The Kiwi tweaker added that he expected a ‘good wicket’ for the match.
“Not sure what it’s going to play like (against Chennai) but we speak as a unit, adapting as fast as we can. Traditionally, it is a very good wicket so if it is like that, it’s (about) getting in and out of overs. If it is like that, we know how to bowl and then if it is flat, like the Bangalore (RCB) game, we know that (too) — try and get in and out of overs. The only way to slow teams down is wickets as we’ve seen this IPL,” he said.
