IPL 2020: Harbhajan to miss entire season; cites personal reasons

Guwahati: Veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has decided to pull out of the Indian Premier League citing personal reasons. Singh informed his decision to CSK on Friday.

The senior off-spinner also took to Twitter to confirm the same where he specified “personal reasons” for pulling out of the season and said the franchise had been “extremely supportive”. “Dear Friends I will not be playing IPL this year due to personal reasons. These are difficult times, and I would expect some privacy as I spend time with my family. CSK management has been extremely supportive, and I wish them a great IPLStay safe, and Jai Hind” Harbhajan wrote.

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Harbhajan now becomes the second CSK player to opt-out from the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League due to personal reasons. Earlier, CSK’s star middle-order batsman, Suresh Raina had withdrawn his name from this year’s IPL, and returned to India on Saturday, citing personal reasons.

Singh, 40, did not travel with the team to Dubai on August 21, after he missed the Super Kings’ six-day conditioning camp in mid-August in Chennai. He was expected to join the team during the first week of September.

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Speaking to a leading news daily, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan said that the team management will need time to discuss and accordingly take a decision on whether to seek a replacement for the veteran off-spinner.

With the loss of two key players ahead of the season, CSK skipper MS Dhoni is now left with a lot of added burden on his shoulder. With the middle-order already dented by Raina’s exit, another challenge for Dhoni now would be to find a capable replacement for Singh, who is joint-third on the list of highest wicket-takers in the IPL, with 150 scalps.

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