The 2023 (IPL) season will kick off on March 31, with the first match between the defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings being played in Ahmedabad. Some relieving news to have reached the CSK squad ahead of the start of the season is that England Test captain and brilliant all-rounder Ben Stokes will be available to play for the team throughout the season.
Chennai Super Kings have started their first practice camp from March 3. For his part, the CEO of the franchise, Kashi Vishwanathan, in his statement regarding the availability of England players, told Cricbuzz that according to information received from the BCCI, all players have been told to be available for all the season. In such a situation, they do not have any information available against BCCI.
Earlier, Ben Stokes had indicated through one of his statements that he can return to his country before the last matches of IPL 2023. In fact, the England team has to play a test match against Ireland in his country at from June 1st and Ben Stokes may decide to return to England early to prepare. At the same time, immediately after this test, England will also have to play the Ashes series at home against Australia.
Prior to the start of this season, the Chennai Super Kings team suffered a major setback when Kiwi fast bowler Kyle Jameson was ruled out for the season due to a stress fracture. At the same time, the franchise has not announced the name of any other player as a replacement in his place.
In this regard, franchise CEO Kashi Vishwanath said in his statement that team captain Dhoni and coach Fleming will soon announce the name of the replacement player after discussing it between them. Let us tell you that CSK had listed Kyle Jameson in their team for Rs 1 crore during the mini auction held last year.