Ashish Nehra ruled out of IPL, says Sunrisers’ Tom Moody

“Ashish Nehra won’t be fit for the remainder of the tournament,” the head coach told media in an interaction on the eve of the IPL eliminator scheduled for Wednesday.

Ashish Nehra has played six matches this season.

Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler Ashish Nehra has been ruled out of the rest of the Indian Premier League T20 tournament, head coach Tom Moody said here on Tuesday.

“Ashish Nehra won’t be fit for the remainder of the tournament,” he told media in an interaction on the eve of the IPL eliminator clash between Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders at Chinnaswamy stadium here. The veteran India pacer was forced off the field with a hamstring strain in a league match against Rising Pune Supergiant on May 6.

Nehra’s absence will be a sizeable blow to the side, considering the devastating form the opposition opening batsmen Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine are in. The veteran bowler has been injury prone. He has featured in only eight of the 17 fixtures last season, while this season he has played six out of 14.

However, Hyderabad has found a champion bowler in Mohammad Siraj, who made his impression by picking up four wickets in its must win match against Gujarat Lions to qualify for play-offs. On Yuvraj Singh’s fitness, Moody said the left hand Punjab batsman will be undergoing fitness test in the evening.

“Yuvraj will be undergoing a fitness test this evening. We will be giving him obviously the opportunity to prove his fitness,” he said.

Yuvraj, who had scored 243 runs in 11 games this IPL, had sustained an injury in his fingers against Mumbai Indians and missed the crucial game against Gujarat. The BCCI and the Indian team management would not like to miss the services of Yuvraj for Champions trophy, scheduled for a kick-start on June 1.