IPL 2020: Harbhajan Singh pulls out of the tournament citing personal reasons

The problems for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are not ending ahead of the commencement of the Indian Premier League (IPL). After their veteran Suresh Raina returned to India last week, their experienced off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has pulled out of the upcoming season citing personal reasons.

The possiblity of him missing the tournament was reported only a few days ago after which the CSK official had quashed down the rumours. The bowler had not attended the CSK camp in Chennai as well and had delayed his arrival in the UAE too. He was supposed to join the team in the first week of September but has now decided to pull out of the tournament entirely.

According to a report in NDTV, Harbhajan Singh has conveyed his message to the CSK franchise and the team will certainly miss his experience in the IPL this year. The pitches in the UAE will definitely turn more as the tournament progresses and MS Dhoni would’ve liked a bowler like Harbhajan in the side to guide the youngsters.

Nevertheless, the team already possesses some of the brilliant spinners like Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, R Sai Kishore while Kedar Jadhav can also bowl if needed. It remains to be seen if the team announces any replacement for Harbhajan Singh.

CSK to start training from Friday

Meanwhile, the CSK team is set to start training from Friday after the rest of the team tested negative twice for COVID-19. “All those who tested negative, including support staff, previously have tested negative again. We will start practice today,” the CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told ESPNCricinfo.

However, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi will not be part of the training yet as they reached Dubai on September 1 and are undergoing quarantine for six days. They will also have to come out negative in a series of COVID-19 tests before being allowed to enter the bubble. The ones who were tested positive last week are in the middle of their 14-day quarantine and will be tested multiple times again before allowing them to join the team.