Tamil Nadu’s top-order left-hander B Sai Sudharsan faces six to eight weeks on the sidelines after a small fracture was found in his right seventh rib. The knock came while he dived to complete a run during last week’s Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture against Madhya Pradesh in Ahmedabad.
He finished that innings with a fifty but has since sat out the matches against Karnataka and Jharkhand. A scan at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on 29 December confirmed “a slender, undisplaced fracture of the anterior cortex of the right seventh rib” – the same spot where a net-session delivery had struck him earlier in the tournament.
“Sai is undertaking lower-body strength and conditioning work with appropriate protection to the injured rib to facilitate healing, and he has responded well to the programme,” the Centre’s medical note explained. “Upper-body training will be introduced once acute symptoms settle over the next seven to ten days, following which he will be gradually progressed into a structured upper-body strength and conditioning programme.”
Rib fractures rarely permit a quick turn-around; the usual window is six to eight weeks, which in practice rules the 24-year-old out of the remainder of the 50-over competition. If all goes to plan, he should return in time for pre-season work with Gujarat Titans.
Sudharsan broke into India’s Test side last year and owns 302 runs from six outings at 27.45, alongside three ODI caps and a solitary T20I. His absence leaves Tamil Nadu’s batting light. They sit sixth in their Vijay Hazare group after one win in four, and still have to face Rajasthan, Tripura and Kerala. Casual fans may note that bonus-point wins could yet lift them into the knockouts, but doing so without their most in-form player is a sizeable ask.
