Bad news for CSK fans as attacking Indian batter injured ahead of IPL 2026

A major blow for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Mumbai cricket team, as their key batter received a fresh injury ahead of an important match. The batter, who is in tremendous form for his whirlwind batting, injured his finger during a net session.

According to media reports on Monday, Sarfaraz Khan picked up an injury in his finger while doing batting practice in nets for the Mumbai cricket team ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 (VHT 2025-26) quarterfinal against Karnataka at the Centre of Excellence in North Bengaluru. Along with Khan, Tushar Deshpande was also ruled out from the match because of injury concerns.

According to a TOI media report, "Sarfaraz, who had smashed a record 15-ball fifty against Punjab in the last league match of the stage—the fastest by an Indian in List A cricket—injured his finger after being struck by a ball from Sairaj Patil while batting in the nets."

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CSK batter Sarfaraz Khan injured his finger ahead of crucial matches

Just a match before, the middle-order batter smashed a record 15-ball half-century against Punjab, which is currently the fastest half-century in List-A cricket across the globe. Sarfaraz has been Mumbai’s top scorer in this tournament, scoring 303 runs in six matches at an average of 75.75 and a strike rate of 190.56. His highest score was 155 off 75 balls against Goa.

Before these explosive knocks, Sarfaraz Khan was bought by CSK for his base price of INR 75 lakh at the IPL 2026 auction.

Mumbai vs Karnataka VHT 2025-26 Playing XIs:

Karnataka: Mayank Agarwal (C), Devdutt Paddikal, Karun Nair, Smaran Ravichandran, Krishnan Shrijith, Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal, Vijay Kumar Vyshak, Vijaydhar Patil, Abhilash Shetty, Vidhwath Kaverappa.

Mumbai: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Musheer Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Hardik Tamore, Shams Mulani, Sairaj Patil, Suryansh Shedge, Tanush Kotian, Ishan Mulchandani, Mohit Awasthi, Onkar Tamale.