Reports: CSK will not play IPL 2020 season opener; BCCI to make changes to the schedule

Just days before the commencement of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings received a huge blow as 13 members of its contingent including two players namely Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaekwad tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Adding to the misery, the vice-captain of the franchise Suresh Raina decided to pull away from this edition of the cash-rich league due to some personal reasons. Raina has already returned to India and has made himself unavailable for the entire season.

As per InsideSport, due to these unfortunate developments, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to give CSK a few extra days to cope up with this major setback. Thus, the MS Dhoni-led side will not be playing the inaugural match of IPL 2020 which is all set to get underway from September 19 across three venues namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

It was almost confirmed that the two most successful IPL franchises i.e four-time champion Mumbai Indians and three-time champion Chennai Super Kings will be up against each other in the first match of the season. However, the Indian board has now decided to make some amendments in the schedule to provide CSK with some time to deal with the ongoing crisis in their camp.

CSK to be in quarantine for another week

The Yellow Army was supposed to start ground training from August 28, however after over a dozen of its members tested positive, the team was sent back in quarantine for the next 6 days. While the members who have tested positive for the virus will have to be in isolation for 14 days and will be allowed in the biosecure bubble only if they test negative in various rounds of coronavirus tests done.

This means that the team will be able to start their training somewhere in the next week only if everything goes well and all the players test negative. Therefore, the BCCI is looking for some different opponents against Mumbai Indians in the opening match.

“They will now not be in a position to contest the opening game of the IPL 2020. We will give CSK a few more days to come out of this setback,” said one of the BCCI officials to InsideSport.