It is end of the road for Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh’s relationship with Chennai Super Kings. CSK has not only removed the names of Raina and Harbhajan from their official website but as per the norm has also initiated the process of terminating all contractual relationship with both the players.
As per the IPL Auction guidelines in 2018, both Harbhajan & Raina had signed a 3 years deal with the CSK which was finishing with the 2020 season of IPL 2020. As both had declined to play in the current season of IPL, CSK according to the sources is now moving ahead to officially terminate the contracts with the duo. Raina had signed 11 Cr a year deal with CSK, while the former Indian spinner Bhajji had a 2 Cr annual contract with the team. According to the information, no salary will be made to the players for the season.
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InsideSport also reached out to CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan on the issue of termination of contracts. Without denying the development he refused to comment on the contract termination. When asked, if the players will be paid part of their salaries for the season, he said. ‘players will only be paid if they play as they are not playing they won’t be paid’.
The termination of the contracts clearly means Raina or Harbhajan are no more CSK’s players. This also means, if for the next season (IPL 2021) BCCI doesn’t organize a player auction because of the paucity of time – Raina and Harbhajan will not have any contract with CSK and may end up sitting out of IPL for one more season.
IPL 2020: CSK coach Stephen Fleming says ‘we are ready to bounce back’
Currently, Chennai Super Kings lies at the bottom of points table at 8th place but head coach Stephen Fleming on Thursday said the team used the six-day break to “get some clarity around” on what it needed to do to get its IPL campaign back on track.
The three-time champions have not gotten off the best of starts, having lost two of their first three games.
“It came at a good time because the first three games were in quick succession and all games were at different grounds, so you have to appreciate trying to read conditions, for each game being predominantly the first team to play there was tough.
Also Read: IPL 2020 CSK vs SRH: If Dwayne Bravo in, who goes out for Chennai Super Kings?
“And also coming off a couple of challenges we had off the field, we’ve used this break pretty well, we got some clarity around what we need to do and have practised very well,” Fleming told the CSK website ahead of Friday’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In some good news on the eve of the SRH game, he said batsman Ambati Rayudu and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo are available for selection.
While Rayudu who starred in CSK’s win over Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener missed the next two matches due to a hamstring injury, the veteran West Indian player has not featured in any of the fixtures so far due to injury.
Asked how it would help to be playing four of the next five games at a single venue (Dubai), he said it would be helpful to settle in and try and read conditions at one ground.
“I’m looking forward to putting in a bit of performance than we did the last time we played at Dubai where we were outplayed by Delhi Capitals. There were a number of areas that we weren’t happy with, and we’ve worked hard on those,”he said.
To a question how much the teams would have learnt about conditions after playing three games each, he said from their point of view a lot has been learnt, adding it has been a tough start and “we’ve got to overcome that and restart well after this break.”
“I heard comments yesterday that teams are still learning, they’ve had the benefit of playing at one ground and are learning at other grounds, so I’m not sure.
“But from our point of view, we certainly learnt a lot, and even over the six days now, to watch and try and work the characteristics of each of the grounds has been beneficial,” he added.
IPL 2020 Points Table : Chennai Super Kings currently in the 8th place in the points table
| Indian Premier League | P | W | L | D | NRR | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mumbai Indians | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | +1.094 | 4 |
| 2 | Delhi Capitals | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +0.483 | 4 |
| 3 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +0.117 | 4 |
| 4 | Rajasthan Royals | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -0.2019 | 4 |
| 5 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1.450 | 4 |
| 6 | Kings XI Punjab | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | +0.521 | 2 |
| 7 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -0.228 | 2 |
| 8 | Chennai Super Kings | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -0.840 | 2 |
