IPL 2018: God has given me the power, says MS Dhoni allaying fears over his injured back

"I don't need to use the back a lot, the hands can do the job. But overall, we'll assess how bad it is," said the CSK captain after his 44-ball 79 almost delivered a win against KXIP in Punjab on Sunday.

MS Dhoni (PTI)

CSK fell short of just a boundary-hit in their four-run defeat against KXIP in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday in Mohali, when Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni - struggling with a back injury - hit 79 runs off 44 balls and almost pulled off a miraculous win before falling agonisingly short of the 198-run target. 

It was for the third match in a row that Chennai pulled off a heist but it didn't happen like their victories in the first two matches of the season. Dwayne Bravo and Sam Billings were the heroes of those wins but Dhoni's knock couldn't bring the same result. However, the narrow defeat also raised a few questions around Ravindra Jadeja batting ahead of the in-form Bravo.

But Dhoni has complete trust in the spin-bowling allrounder's ability to hit big and wants to try him in that role of a finisher. 

"It's a difficult one. Fleming is in the dugout, so he needs to take that decision, and we have confidence in Jadeja also; one of the reasons is that it's not easy to consistently bowl to a left-hander and also this is the time that we can give him that opportunity to express himself," Dhoni was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"If he doesn't do (the job), Bravo is an experienced one. He can always go back and do the job for us. But overall, Jadeja is somebody who can do it for us and that'll be really good.

"So far we have never really given him (Jadeja) the kind of opportunity that he really deserves, so I will definitely back him to come good in the coming games."

Dhoni's injured back also made a lot of news in the last-over humdinger on Sunday, during which he also received medical treatment on the field.  

"God has given me the power. I don't need to use the back a lot, the hands can do the job," said the CSK skipper.

"But overall, we'll assess how bad it is. It shouldn't be too bad because I know what really happened and once you know the kind of injury it is, it becomes slightly easy to get out of it. Also, we have three-four days now before the next game. 

"I'm quite used to playing with a few injuries, whether it is back, fingers, elbow or something else. You have to be tough and get on with the game."