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In another blow for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Indian veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has decided to opt-out of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 citing personal reasons.
For CSK, Harbhajan is the second player after Suresh Raina to withdraw from the upcoming 13th season of IPL scheduled to be played from September 19 to November 10 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On Thursday evening, all CSK players, barring the two earlier positive cases, had tested negative for coronavirus in a follow-up test that was conducted. The two infected players will undergo a COVID-19 test after completing a 14-day quarantine period.
As per reports, the Super Kings contingent, who are yet to begin training after reaching the UAE, will hold a session on Friday.
“The training starts from today. All others, apart from the 13, tested negative for the third time. Those who tested positive will only be tested after the isolation period (two weeks) is over,” CSK CEO KS Viswanathan told PTI.
The MS Dhoni-led CSK held a brief training camp in Chennai before leaving for Dubai and were the only team to do so.
Raina, a mainstay in the CSK setup, has already returned to India citing personal reasons. However, in a recent interview, the left-handed batsman mentioned that fans might see him in action during the IPL 2020.
CSK is yet to name Harbhajan’s announcement
Well, the Super Kings already possesses some of the brilliant spinners like Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir and R Sai Kishore while Kedar Jadhav can also bowl if needed. It remains to be seen if the franchise announces any replacement for Harbhajan.
Meanwhile, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi will not take part in CSK’s training session as they reached Dubai on September 1 and are undergoing quarantine for six days. They will also have to come out negative in a series of COVID-19 tests before being allowed to enter the biosecure bubble. The players who were tested positive last week are in the middle of their 14-day quarantine and will be tested multiple times again before being allowed to join the team.
