There will be one notable absentee when the Chennai Super Kings squad flies out to Dubai on August 21 for getting their preparations underway in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the 13th IPL Season which begins from September 19.

India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday confirmed he will not fly out with the rest of the CSK squad to the United Arab Emirates on August 21 due to personal reasons. The front-line off-spinner will join the the 3-time champions in UAE a week later for upcoming IPL season, which gets underway starting September 19.

Harbhajan Singh requested Chennai Super Kings franchise to exempt him from travelling with the rest of the team, which will depart to the UAE from Chennai on August 21, due to personal reasons. CSK has accepted Harbhajan's request and allowed him to travel a week later. However, the delay in departure has nothing to do with the health of his mother.

Harbhajan Singh joins CSK's South African imports - Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi as the Proteas duo is set to land up in the UAE only in the first week of September. Meanwhile, Imran Tahir, Dwayne Bravo and Mitchell Santner who are currently taking part in the Caribbean Premier League (August 18 to September 10) in the Trinidad and Tobago will also not join the team in the UAE before August last week.

Ahead of their depature to the UAE, Chennai Super Kings organised a training cum conditoning camp in Chennai from August 15 to 20 as a preparatory build up to IPL 2020. CSK Skipper MS Dhoni and their seasoned campaigners Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla and Deepak Chahar were also part of the camp. Notably, head coach Stephen Fleming will also directly join the squad in the UAE later this month.

After a long Covid-19 induced delay, IPL 2020 will be held across 3 venues in the UAE -- Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, with the final being played on a weekday for the first time in the history of the cash rich T20 tournament.