Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni is slated to make his much-awaited return to cricket when the IPL 2020 is played in the UAE from September 19 onwards. Owing to the rising Coronavirus cases in India, the BCCI was forced to host the entire tournament in the Middle-East nation.
Dhoni has led the CSK franchise to the finals in both IPL 2018 and IPL 2019, winning their third title in 2018. All the eight franchises will ferry their players later this month to the UAE for practice and mandated quarantine period.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, Dhoni’s CSK teammate, has revealed that the veteran wicket-keeper batsman has been training hard at home ahead of the UAE camp.
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"I have been speaking to a lot of the players, everything has been planned. Deepak Chahar has been playing and MS Dhoni is also training hard at his home. Everyone has to do it because this game requires a lot of fitness, lot of commitment,” said Raina on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
Raina himself has been practicing in nets at a ground near his home in Ghaziabad, along with Rishabh Pant. All these players are in Uttar Pradesh or Delhi and training together to prepare for IPL 2020.
“I have been practicing with Rishabh Pant. He was hitting the ball very well. Then I had a net with Shami. All bowlers have been coming here and practicing. Piyush Chawla also came, he bowled really well," said Raina, whose form will be crucial for the fortunes of his franchise.
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CSK were looking to leave for the UAE by 10th of this month but they won't be allowed to do so after BCCI confirmed that the franchises can leave after the 20th once the final approvals from the government are done and it issues the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is issued to all eight teams.
“We are going to have a camp. We have lots to do, we are going there I think 18-20 days before. It is good to go early because IPL is coming and we have been under lockdown for 4-5 months. So, it is good to be there before IPL and it is going to be exciting,” said the CSK veteran.
