Jason Behrendorff replaces Josh Hazlewood for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021

Chennai Super Kings have signed Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff to their squad for the upcoming IPL season. Behrendorff has been included in the team as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood. The left-arm pacer has featured in 11 ODIs and seven T20Is to date. This will be Behrendorff's second IPL season. He has earlier represented Mumbai Indians in 2019, where he played five games and picked as many wickets.

Josh Hazlewood pulled out of the tournament, citing the bio-bubble fatigue. Apart from Josh Hazlewood, Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) Mitchell Marsh and Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) Josh Philippe have also pulled out of the IPL. With an extensive cricketing calendar ahead, cricketers like Josh Hazlewood and Marsh are looking to use this time to recharge themselves at home rather than being a part of the tournament in a bio-bubble. Australia is supposed to play three ODI and as many Twenty20 matches in West Indies in June and July. They will then depart to Bangladesh in October for three warm-up games ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in India.

CSK will start their VIVO IPL 2021 campaign with a match against DC

In 2020, Chennai failed to make their way for the playoffs for the first time in IPL history. Thus, the yellow brigade is looking to make a strong comeback this season. Under MS Dhoni's leadership, the three-time IPL champions have been among the most consistent teams in the competition. Last year, the Men in Yellow struggled in UAE in the absence of two senior cricketers Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. The duo has opted out of the tournament at the last moment. The side now looks more settled on paper for the forthcoming IPL season with Raina's comeback. Chennai Super Kings will commence their VIVO IPL 2021 season with a game against Delhi Capitals on April 10, 2021, at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. 

CSK squad for IPL 2021

MS Dhoni (C), Narayan Jagadeesabn, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Shardul Thakur,  KM Asif, Josh Hazlewood (replaced by Jason Behrendorff), Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, M.Harisankar Reddy, K.Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore

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