Since the pacer Josh Hazlewood pulled out of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021), the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been struggling to find his replacement.

According to reports, Australia’s Billy Stanlake and England’s pacer Reece Topley have turned down the offer of joining the franchise due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in India.

The report also suggested that other fringe players were also called to play for the Chennai-based franchise but none of them have accepted the offer so far.

While talking to Times of India, a source close to the development said, “Many of them have contracts with English county teams and the permissions aren’t forthcoming due to the rising number of Covid cases. We may have to go for a wildcard and may get one soon enough. But the problems do persist.”

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Hazlewood had pulled out of the tournament due to bio-bubble fatigue and decided to take a rest from cricket.

“It’s been a long 10 months in bubbles and quarantine at different times, so I decided to have a rest from cricket and spend some time at home and in Australia in the next two months,” the right-arm quick said.

The IPL 14 is scheduled to start on Friday (9 April) as Mumbai Indians (MI) taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Chennai, whereas CSK begins their IPL campaign against Delhi Capitals (DC) on 10 April at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

(With Times of India Inputs)