Chennai Super Kings batsman Kedar Jadhav has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament after sustaining a hamstring injury in CSK’s opening game against Mumbai Indians. He helped the team clinch a narrow victory in their match against Mumbai after his side lost 9 wickets while chasing down a target of 166 runs.

CSK batting coach Michael Hussey considered it his absence as a big loss for the team as they are now a player short in the middle-order. The Chennai-based franchise is looking for an option to replace the million-dollar man in the squad and his exclusion could be an opportunity for Ambati Rayudu to cement his place in the middle.

“We haven't picked a replacement as yet but we will go through that process,” Michael Hussey said. “It (Jadhav's injury) is a big loss for us because he is obviously a very, very good player and a key player for us in the middle order. So big shoes to fill for a little man I guess.”

Ambati Rayudu had opened the batting innings for CSK as an injured Murali Vijay who will be available for their next match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. However, Francois du Plessis, another injured man in the side, is still unlikely to start his stint in this season owing to a finger injury.

“From what I understand M Vijay got a bit of a knock on the ribs in the first few days of training. So he has been quite sore actually. He is slowly working his way back to full fitness. He has been training well, though, and hitting the ball nicely.

“Sometimes, it's just the gut feel of the captain and the coach about which way they want to go and on this occasion [in Mumbai] they decided to go for Rayudu. He has obviously played for India and done very well too but M Vijay I can say is batting very nicely as well. It's a nice headache for the coach and captain to have. Vijay is ready to go for sure,” said Hussey.