Cheteshwar Pujara
India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara has begun training with his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings upon serving the mandatory quarantine period. In a clip shared by the Chennai outfit, Pujara was spotted wearing the yellow jersey for the first time.
After wrapping up international commitments, many star players have begun preparations for the upcoming edition of the IPL, scheduled to start from April 9. Earlier in the day, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, his brother Krunal and Suryakumar Yadav also joined the Mumbai Indians squad. The four players were on national duty for the ODI series against England, which India won 2-1 after defeating the visitors in the third game on Sunday.
"Really happy, it's good to be out on the field," Pujara said in a video shared by CSK. "It's good to be wearing yellow, really looking forward to my stint with CSK." Along with Pujara, new CSK recruits -- Robin Uthappa and K Gowtham -- also spent time in nets to prepare for the new season.
During the recent mini-auction earlier this year, CSK picked up England all-rounder Moeen Ali for INR 7 crore, apart from Karnataka all-rounder K Gowtham (INR 9.25 crore) and Pujara (INR 50 lakh). The Yellow Army also got hold of Tamil Nadu batsman C Hari Nishaanth, Harishankar Reddy and Bhagath Varma (all for INR 20 lakh).
While IPL 2021 is set to start from April 9 in Chennai, MS Dhoni-led CSK will begin their campaign an evening later when they take on the previous season's runner-up, Delhi Capitals, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
CSK, slated to play five of their matches in Mumbai in IPL 2021, shifted their training camp from Chennai to Mumbai ahead of the start of the new season.
