IPL 2020: CSK Likely To Take On Mumbai Indians In Opener After Players Test Negative

Chennai Super Kings have finally received some good news as all of their players who were not in quarantine have tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday. Within a week of landing in UAE, CSK had suffered a big blow when 13 of their members including two players – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Chahar – tested positive for the dreaded virus.

Fortunately, no other player has contracted the virus so far which means that the team can finally start their practice in the build up to the IPL 2020. CSK had to extend their mandatory six-day quarantine after the positive cases. On the other hand, all the other seven teams started their preparations for IPL 2020 from last week.

Also according to a report in the Times of India, one understands that CSK is available to play the opener against Mumbai Indians on September 19. The IPL 2020 schedule will be announced on Friday.

Initially there were reports suggesting that Royal Challengers Bangalore or Sunrisers Hyderabad might play against defending champions Mumbai Indians, after the CSK players tested Covid-19 positive. But as per reports, CSK never asked for the postponement of the game.

“It’s not a problem at all. We will be happy to play game 1 if we are asked to,” a CSK source said.

The report also stated that majority of the franchises want a warm-up game before the tournament opener in September 19. Most of the players participating in the IPL have not played any competitive game since March when the pandemic brought the entire world to a standstill.

“Having some competitive warm-up games will be good for tournament,” a leading franchise executive has told TOI. Another franchise CEO has also expressed his “100 percent support to the idea of warm-ups.”

Two other franchisees have in-fact told TOI that “warm-ups are the only way to get players back in the tournament mode right from day one” as they have not set foot on a cricket field for more than five months. Even the broadcaster Star is in favour of holding warm-up games.

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