IPL 2021: MS Dhoni gets a loud welcome by fans after training session, he responds

With the second leg of the Indian Premier League being only a week away from commencement, the teams have started their preparations in full swing. Several teams are flying out players from the UK, where England and India were playing a five-Test series, to the UAE, the venue of the second leg of the IPL.

The Chennai Super Kings, who were one of the first teams to touch down in the gulf country, have been practising for the resuming edition for around three weeks now, and a group of fans had one of the most pleasing sights recently when they spotted MS Dhoni during one of the training sessions.

Dhoni, who has been named India’s mentor for the T20 World Cup, had not the best of seasons with the bat, but under him, the CSK stood at the second position in the points tally at the time of season suspension.

CSK, MI to resume IPL 2021 second leg

Meanwhile, the 14th edition of the league, which was postponed on May 4 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL Governing Council after a spate of Covid-19 cases emerged inside the bio-bubbles of four different teams across two cities, is set to resume in the UAE with the blockbuster clash of Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on September 19. While the initial leg of the tournament did not have any mishaps, the Covid-19 virus crept in during the second leg of the tournament in Ahmedabad and Delhi.

The resuming league phase of the tournament is supposed to run until October 8, with the first qualifier scheduled on October 10. The Eliminator, second qualifier and the final will be played on October 11, 13 and 15, respectively. Incidentally, the T20 World Cup 2021 starts only two days after the IPL final.

As per the new itinerary, the Dubai International Stadium will host 13 of the remaining 31 games including the first qualifier and the final, while Sharjah will have 10 fixtures including the Eliminator and the second qualifier. The remaining fixtures will be played in Abu Dhabi.

Check the latest updates of the IPL schedule, IPL News, IPL points table, and more on CricTracker.