IPL 2019: CSK sweat over MSD's fitness ahead of DC tie

CSK captain MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming yesterday said captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had been "pretty sick" last week and a call on his participation in the game against Delhi Capitals today will be taken before the toss.

"Dhoni is progressing and he's been pretty sick during this week. We will make a call on him tomorrow. He is progressing which is good," Fleming said on eve of the game against Delhi Capitals.

Dhoni didn't take part in yesterday's training session and also missed the practice on Monday. He also said the performance in the game against Mumbai Indians (which CSK lost) on April 26 was not due to the couple of changes forced on the team. "We had a couple of changes forced upon us in the last game, but the performance was not due to the fact that we had made those changes. We are more comfortable going into this game. We have been pretty good, from success-wise, at Chepauk.

"Sometimes, just getting jolted out of the rhythm can be a good thing. Coming down the business end of the tournament, there is a lot on the line each game, so we are well aware of getting the selections right. We want to be as consistent as possible. And I don't see that changing," said the former New Zealand captain.

Asked how they intend to fill the gap in case Dhoni misses out, the CSK head coach said there were other players who needed to step up. "Yes, we have. Though it's one game, here and there, that can be disruptive. If it's two-three games in a row, you start preparing differently. And also we have other big players who haven't fired yet. That's an exciting aspect for us to work on those players. We can get them firing in the last four games."

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