Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) IPL 2022 campaign has got off to a disappointing start, losing their first two matches in the 10-team tournament.

While the defending champions suffered a 6-wicket defeat in the tournament opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), they lost to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by the same margin in the second fixture.

CSK failed to defend a huge total of 210 against LSG. The decision to hand over the ball to Shivam Dube in the 19th over of the innings proved costly for the side as the all-rounder conceded 25 runs in the over and Lucknow eventually overhauled the target with three balls to spare.

The loss against Lucknow vindicates that the Super Kings are missing the services of pace spearhead Deepak Chahar, who is out of action due to a quadriceps tear injury.

According to a TOI report, Chahar is still in Bengaluru and he will be released from NCA in two weeks' time. The report further claims that the pace-bowling all-rounder should be ready by April 25 for the game against Punjab Kings.

Notably, Deepak Chahar was bought by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping sum of INR 14 crore at the IPL 2022 mega-auction.

While Chahar's return is awaited, CSK also have a couple of fitness concerns to deal with. Frontline pacers Adam Milne and Chris Jordan are not fully fit and, thus, the franchise had to field two rookies Mukesh Choudhary and Tushar Deshpande against LSG.

Milne was injured after the first game against KKR on March 26, whereas Jordan was reportedly admitted to a Mumbai hospital for six days due to a tonsil infection.

As per the report, Milne is unlikely to be fit for CSK's game against Punjab Kings on April 3, the management is hoping that Jordan would recover in time for the crucial clash.

(With TOI inputs)