IPL 2021: The Last Time I Was Here I Picked Up A Concussion - Faf du Plessis Speaks About Bitter Memories On Return To Abu Dhabi

While the Chennai Super Kings go into the Abu Dhabi game on Sunday against the Kolkata Knight Riders on a high after winning the last two games in the UAE leg of IPL 2021, Faf du Plessis, their star opener, has some horrific memories of his last outing at the venue.

He suffered a serious concussion while playing the PSL 2021 earlier in June. Faf du Plessis had a terrible collision with his Quetta Gladiators teammate Mohammad Hasnain while trying to save a boundary in a game against Peshawar Zalmi. He lay on the ground for minutes before walking away and was hospitalised.

MS asked me how am I to do those high pocket areas and I said I’m good to go: Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis was eventually ruled out from the remainder of PSL and the following Hundred tournament in England. After spending close to three months on the sidelines, he returned during the CPL 2021 playing for the St Lucia Kings ahead of the second phase of the IPL 2021.

The former South Africa captain talked about his time away from the field recovering from the concussion. He also revealed that CSK skipper MS Dhoni had asked him about his fielding fitness at the boundary line which he shrugged off.

“I walked in here today and I realised the last time I was here was when I picked up my concussion. So it’s probably not the best start to the day so it can only get better from there hopefully. Took a long time – four months to get through that. Still having neck issues from that incident but nothing that’s going to keep me off the park. MS asked me how am I to do those high pocket areas and I said I’m good to go, ” Faf du Plessis said on Star Sports before the start of the match against KKR.

CSK gain upper hand over KKR

Meanwhile, Dhoni’s side have taken an upper hand over KKR after Eoin Morgan had won the toss and elected to bat first in Abu Dhabi. Shubman Gill started off with a couple of intenful boundaries against Deepak Chahar before getting involved in a mixup with Venkatesh Iyer and getting run out on the last ball of the first over.

Iyer struck three boundaries of his own before Shardul Thakur removed him in a wicket-maiden to end KKR’s powerplay at 50/2. While the KKR skipper struggled at one end, Rahul Tripathi continued in his attacking form from the previous match against Mumbai Indians.

Both then got out in quick spaces – Morgan (8 off 14) to a blinder by Faf du Plessis at long-on boundary and Tripathi (45 off 33) was bowled after failing to connect his reverse sweep against Jadeja. At the time of writing, KKR are in a spot of both at 93/4 after 13 overs, but they do have the fire-power in their batting for a late flourish.

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