Ahead of the season opener of IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings suffered a huge blow on Thursday as skipper MS Dhoni will likely to miss the first match against Gujarat Titans on Friday. As per reports, MS Dhoni has sustained a niggle in his left knee and team management doesn't want to push it.
If MS Dhoni does not take part in the first game, it will be interesting to see who will take his place as a skipper. Players like Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja are at the fore to lead the side. However, Stokes is also injured and is not fully fit so his participation is also not sure.
In IPL 2022, CSK had a below-average season where they concluded the points table by standing at the ninth spot. They won the IPL 2021 but they could not continue their winning run in the last season. The Men in Yellow were forced to make changes in their squad post the pathetic last season as they dropped players like Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, and Chris Jordan.
Earlier, left-arm pacer Akash Singh was named as the replacement for Mukesh Choudhary in the Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2023. Mukesh will not be taking part in the cash-rich league as he is recovering from a stress fracture.
Akash was a crucial member of the India Under-19 squad that finished the tournament as the runners-up in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup. Akash scalped 7 wickets in 6 matches in the tournament at an average of 22. The 20-year-old pacer has featured in a total of nine T20 matches and has taken 7 wickets. He played for the Rajasthan Royals squad in IPL 2021.
Squad
MS Dhoni (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ben Stokes, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma, Akash Singh.