Chennai: Skipper M S Dhoni and other Indian players of three time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) today left for Dubai after a five-day training session ahead of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah next month.
However, offie Harbhajan Singh was not travelling with the team to Dubai due to personal reasons and would join the squad after two weeks. Harbhajan also did not attend the training session.
CSK CEO K Viswanathan said that all the players were tested thrice for coronavirus and all of them tested negative following which they left for Dubai by a special aircraft.
Upon reaching Dubai, the CSK players would undergo the mandatory quarantine period, before resuming training ahead of the first match on 19 September.
The team led by Dhoni had a brief week-long training when the tournament was earlier scheduled to commence on 29 March, but they had to pack up in view of the lockdown introduced to prevent control and spread of coronavirus.
The IPL was subsequently deferred to 14 April and the BCCI said it could not be held in India due to the spread of the pandemic.
After analysing various options, it was decided to hold the event in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) received the formal approval to stage the 2020 edition in the UAE.
The team would be landing early in Dubai to ensure that 14-day quarantine norms were followed before the matches commence on 19 September.
The final would be held in Dubai on 10 November. CSK, which had finished runner-up on five occasions, has an unique record of qualifying for the play offs in all the editions.
CSK in a tweet said the super camp sorely missed the super fans, thanks to Covid. “But we managed to end it with a loud whistle! #WhistlePodu #Yellove”, the Yellow Brigade said.
Meanwhile, sources a total of 51 members, including support staff and CSK officials were among the CSK contingent that left for Dubai. The contingent came in two buses and all of them were allowed entry after thermal scanning.
Normally, cricket afficiandos would throng in large numbers to have a glimpse of their favourite stars, but public were not allowed in view of the Covid-19 lockdown, though tight security arrangements were made at the airport.