The IPL 2020 is scheduled to begin from September 19 onwards, but for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise, things are getting worse.
13 of their members, including 2 players in Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, tested positive for Coronavirus, which extended their quarantine period by 7 days. This has eaten into the valuable time the franchise has for outdoor practice, as CSK is the only team left to begin theirs.
Then Suresh Raina left UAE and returned to India and will miss the entire IPL 13 due to personal reasons or a tiff with the management over a hotel room, as per the Outlook India report.
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Now the franchise may possibly be without their star offspinner as veteran Harbhajan Singh, who is yet to fly out to UAE for the tournament, is contemplating skipping the IPL 2020 altogether. He was not part of the CSK camp in Chennai before they departed for UAE, as his mother’s health was not good.
According to a source close to the Indian spinner, Harbhajan is scheduled to fly on Tuesday for Dubai but Covid-19 cases in the CSK team may lead him to do a rethink about his plans.
“Harbhajan is due to join the team on Tuesday. But the situation with Chennai Super Kings currently has left him very worried. He may rejig his schedules or even decide to skip the IPL this year”, the source close to the player told Insidesport.
According to few reports, few other senior foreign players of CSK are also getting apprehensive about the whole situation. CSK is not in a position to afford any more losses.
Meanwhile, on the Suresh Raina issue, CSK owner N Srinivasan had told Outlook India, “Cricketers are like prima donnas … like the temperamental actors of the olden days. Chennai Super Kings have always been like a family and all seniors players have learnt to co-exist. My thinking is that if you are reluctant or not happy, go back. I don’t force anyone to do anything … sometimes success gets into your head."
IPL 2020: CSK might part ways with Suresh Raina ahead of the 2021 edition, says report
However, Suresh Raina’s family friend, Ajay Sethi, who is chairman of the Channel 2 Group which holds broadcast rights of major cricketing events in the region, refuted this claim.
‘‘Suresh (Raina) called me back after repeated messages from me during the day. He decided to leave the CSK camp suddenly as he was getting concerned about his wife Priyanka and their two young children, four-year-old daughter Gracia and four-month-old son Rio in view of the pandemic situation,” he said.
(Insidesports inputs)
