Chennai Super Kings (CSK) face an uphill task with two of their star cricketers in Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad struggling with injury concerns ahead of IPL 2022. The Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanath recently stated that he is not aware of the fitness updates of the key players.
Viswanath, who has been an important stakeholder in the CSK, said that they are yet to receive update on both cricketers. Moreover, none of them have joined the camp at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.
“We are not aware of their current fitness status and won’t be able to tell you when they would join the squad,” said Vishwanathan about Chahar and Ruturaj as quoted by PTI.
The CSK CEO added:
“Obviously, the BCCI has told us that once they are match-fit, they would intimate us. They are at the NCA currently.” All India players need to be at the NCA and get the clearance certificate after appearing in various fitness tests once the rehabilitation programme is complete.”
Incidentally, Deepak Chahar has sustained a right quadriceps injury while playing in the final T20 against the West Indies, which ruled him out of the subsequent assignment against Sri Lanka as well.
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The all-rounder from Rajasthan is reportedly out for eight weeks, hinting towards his unavailability for the first half of the IPL season, however, there is no official update as of now. CSK had to break the bank to reacquire Deepak Chahar’s services at the mega auction for a whopping INR 14 crore.
On the other hand, Ruturaj Gaikwad suffered a hand injury and was ruled out of the Sri Lanka. Both cricketers were asked to report to the NCA for further rehabilitation.
The four-time IPL champions will begin their campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium.