IPL 2021: CSK Likely To Begin Its Training Camp From March 9 In Chennai

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have already started their preparations for the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) despite the dates of the tournament not confirmed yet.

Captain MS Dhoni landed in Chennai on Wednesday night and had checked into his hotel. Before the skipper, former India batsman, and a key member of the CSK side, Ambati Rayudu arrived in the city and had begun his mandatory quarantine period.

CSK CEO K S Viswanathan has said that along with Dhoni, Rayudu, other domestic players will take part in the preparatory camp, which is likely to commence on March 9. The Tamil Nadu team is knocked out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and players such Narayan Jagadeesan and R Sai Kishore will join the CSK squad soon.

In the IPL 2021 Auction, the franchise roped in 3 more local players – C Hari Nishaanth, Harishankar Reddy, and Bhagath Varma, all for Rs 20 lakh.

All the players have to undergo a 5-day mandatory quarantine period and clear 3 rounds of covid testing before they will be allowed for training.

“Yeah… the camp is likely to start from March 9. Whoever is available would take part in the training sessions. The players will undergo five-day quarantine before they start training. Also, they will have to return three negative tests,” Viswanathan told PTI.

CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time last season

In IPL 2020, held in UAE, for the first time in IPL history, CSK finished in the bottom half of the table. As a result, they offloaded some senior players such as Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Kedar Jadhav, and Murali Vijay; Shane Watson had retired from all forms of cricket.

The MS Dhoni-led outfit roped in all-rounder’s Moeen Ali and Krishnappa Gowtham for a big sum of INR 7 crore and INR 9.25 crore respectively.

Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara makes his return to the IPL after 7 years as he was bought by CSK for his base price of INR 50 lakh.

A major boost for the side will be the availability of the veteran batsman, Suresh Raina whose stability at number 3 was missed last year after he pulled out at the eleventh-hour – the left-hander in fact went to UAE with the team but returned back home owing to personal reasons.

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