England’s Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer were missing as Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
Test captain and all-rounder Stokes said he was “pain free” after bowling in Chennai’s victory over Lucknow Super Giants on Monday.
Chennai skipper MS Dhoni said at the toss Stokes was injured, but did not specify how, while fast bowler Archer was rested by Mumbai as a precaution.
Chennai won by seven wickets.
Mumbai, asked to bat first, slipped from 64-1 to 76-5, with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja taking 3-20.
They recovered enough to post 157-8 from their 20 overs and started strongly with the ball, dismissing New Zealand opener Devon Conway in the first over.
However, India batter Ajinkya Rahane scored 61 from 27 balls to anchor Chennai’s chase and see them over the line.
All-rounder Stokes is not expected to bowl much in the IPL as he continued to manage his troublesome knee, but has had a poor start with the bat with two single-figure scores in his two innings.
Stokes is set to leave the IPL early in order to meet up with England’s Test squad for their first outing of the summer against Ireland on 1 June, before the five-Test Ashes series.
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma said fast bowler Archer was not playing as a precaution, but he was doing running and throwing drills away from the team during the warm-up.
Archer, 28, made his return to international cricket in January after a tough 22 months on the sidelines with elbow and back injuries.
He has so far only returned to white-ball cricket but says he is targeting a Test return for the Ashes.
He bowled in Mumbai’s first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore but went wicketless, conceding 33 runs from his four overs.
All-rounder Moeen Ali was the third England player expected to feature in the match but was also ruled out because of illness.
Source – BBC Sport
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