MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings will face Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier match of the IPL 2023 on Tuesday (May 23) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. But ahead of that match, the team has suffered a big blow as one of their star all-rounders, who was signed for big bucks as well, has left the team’s camp to return home.
MS Dhoni ’s Chennai Super Kings beat the Delhi Capitals by 77 runs in Match No. 67 of the IPL 2023 , which was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday (May 20) afternoon, to seal a place in the IPL 2023 playoffs. Their final league stage match of the ongoing season was a must-win for them, and thanks to the batting heroics of Devon Conway (87) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (79) first and then Deepak Chahar’s (3/22) superb bowling, CSK secured a big win over DC to not just progress to the next round but also finish in the second position in the IPL 2023 points table.
The four-time winners will now face defending champions Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier of IPL 2023 on Tuesday (May 23) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. But ahead of that match, the Men in Yellow have suffered a big blow as one of their star all-rounders has left the team’s camp and returned home. The CSK side is already dealing with an injury to skipper Dhoni, and now the absence of the 31-year-old star all-rounder is a big setback for them.
According to an update provided by the franchise’s official Twitter handle on Sunday morning, star all-rounder Ben Stokes has returned to England ahead of the home season. Stokes, who is the captain of England’s men’s Test cricket team, was signed for Rs 16.25 crore by CSK in the mini auction last year in December, and there were high hopes from him. But due to injury-related issues, he was only able to take part in the first two matches of the campaign. In those two matches, he could only manage to score 15 runs and remain wicketless.
He regained his fitness a couple of weeks ago, but CSK didn’t risk playing him and continued with the same combination that gave results in the last one-and-a-half months. The team is unlikely to name a replacement for Stokes.
