Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will start their training on Friday as no other COVID-19 positive cases have emerged in the squad after 13 personnel, including two players, had tested positive last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to a report carried by IANS, all the players and support staff of CSK underwent a fresh round of testing and returned negative on Thursday. The team will, thus, start training is UAE ahead of the upcoming edition of the IPL, set to be played from September 19 to November 10.

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The yellow franchise will be the last team to start training as others have already started to sweat it out on the field since Monday. However, the two COVID-19 positive players will resume training after they spend 14 days in quarantine and test negative.

Meanwhile, BCCI had last week confirmed that 13 persons, including two cricketers, tested positive for the COVID-19 in UAE. Releasing an official statement, BCCI informed that members of all the squads were tested first when they landed in UAE and on the third and the sixth day of their six-day quarantine. It was during this testing procedures that the 13 positive results were detected.

Even though the BCCI did not confirm which team the 13 coronavirus-positive personnel belong to, media reports from different sources had confirmed that all are from Chennai Super Kings.

The three-time champions have already lost veteran batsman Suresh Raina who has opted out of the tournament due to personal reasons. Meanwhile, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s availability is also doubtful for the season.

The 2020 season of the IPL will be played for 53 days from September 19 to November 10 across three venues in the UAE — Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai.

The final match will be played on a Tuesday, to make it the first-ever IPL to have its final on a weekday. The matches this season will also start 30 minutes before their original time of 4 PM and 8 PM.

The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 this year, was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended again due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.