Hyderabad: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has revealed that his teammate Shane Watson batted with a bleeding knee against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2019) final on Sunday (May 12).

Harbhajan posted on his Instagram story, “Can you guys see the blood on his knee... He got 6 stitches after the game... Got injured while diving but continued to bat without telling anyone.”

Despite 37-year-old Watson’s heroic 80-run knock off 59 balls with a bloodied knee, CSK lost the title clash by a solitary run as they failed to chase 150.

Lasith Malinga was the last-over hero at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as he dismissed Shardul Thakur LBW off the final ball when CSK needed two to win. MI claimed a record fourth IPL title.

After Harbhajan disclosed that Watson had batted despite pain, the Australian has come in for high praise from teammates, fans and former players. Watson sustained an injury to his knee after diving during the match.

The official Instagram handle of CSK too praised Watson. They posted a picture of Watson batting and the blood-soaked knee invisible. They captioned it, "WHAT DEDICATION?! THIS IS GOD LEVEL! You are one of a kind, champ! #WattoMan (sic)." 

Watson was run out in the final over of the match when his dive, while taking a second run, failed to beat the throw from Krunal Pandya. When he was dismissed, CSK needed four runs to win off two balls. He was the top-scorer in the final.