Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the rest of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad to their first training session in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday ahead of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The CSK franchise became the last to begin their training after 13 members of the squad, including two players, were tested positive for COVID-19. Even though they are undergoing a mandatory 14-day quarantine, the rest of the members of the squad were allowed to resume training after all of them tested negative.
In videos posted on the official Instagram handle of CSK, skipper Dhoni was seen facing Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla under the lights of the ICC Academy in Dubai.
The former Indian captain hit some big shots as he prepared to get back into groove for his first competitive cricket experience since India’s semifinal exist from ICC World Cup in May last year.
Veteran Australian all rounder Shane Watson was also seen facing leg-spinner Karn Sharma while fast bowler Shardul Thakur practiced his deliveries.
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. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has also followed a similar trajectory and announced that he will skip the cash-rich league this 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.