Chennai Super Kings have suffered yet another big injury blow ahead of IPL 2023 as their highly-rated fast-bowler Mukesh Choudhary has been ruled out of the entire competition.
The four-time IPL winners have suffered the setback just a day before launching their campaign in the much-awaited sixteenth edition of the tournament. IPL 2023 will get underway on Friday (March 31) and CSK will be in action on the very first day of the competition.
They will be locking horns against defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Talking about Mukesh Choudhary, the fast-bowler is current at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) where he is undergoing rehab for his back injury.
His chances of playing in IPL 2023 was very bleak for quite some time but CSK was still hopeful that he would recover in time for his second season. However, the bowler has now been ruled out of the entire tournament, according to Cricbuzz.
Mukesh Choudhary has been ruled out of #IPL2023. #CSK will seek a replacement
— Kaushik R (@kaushik_cb) March 30, 2023
“We are waiting on Mukesh but we do not have much hope. He was one of our bowling mainstays last year. It will be unfortunate if he misses out,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan had earlier told Cricbuzz.
CSK to seek replacement for Mukesh Choudhary:
Missing Mukesh Choudhary will definitely be a big blow for the Chennai-based outfit. The fast-bowler was one of the very few positives for them in an otherwise forgettable campaign last year. Playing his maiden IPL season last year, he finished the competition with an impressive 16 wickets to his name.
Earlier, CSK lost the services of their New Zealand allrounder Kyle Jamieson too. The New Zealand star was ruled out of entire IPL 2023 with a back injury. Later, he was replaced by South Africa’s Sisanda Magala. With Mukesh Choudhary now out of the tournament, CSK will seek another replacement.
CSK squad for IPL 2023:
MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Bhagath Varma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Matheesha Pathirana, Dwaine Pretorius, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Ben Stokes, Maheesh Theekshana
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