IPL 2022: MS Dhoni faces selection headaches as Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar not available for CSK vs KKR match

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will open the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season with a clash against last year’s runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26). Dhoni’s CSK have plenty of selection headaches ahead of their opening IPL 2022 match with at least three top players unavailable for selection. 

Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar and Dwaine Pretorious will all be unavailable for the opening game of CSK due to different reasons. While Pretorious will be still in quarantine, Deepak Chahar is yet to recover from a quadriceps injury and England all-rounder Moeen Ali hasn’t received his visa for India yet. 

All we wanted tofrom Cherry! #WhistlePodu #Yellove @deepak_chahar9 pic.twitter.com/gkFQH9u2z3

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 21, 2022

Moeen was the among the players, who were retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. He was drafted for Rs 8 crore.  

 “He had applied for his visa on February 28. It has been more than 20 days since the application was submitted. He has been a frequent traveller to India and yet he has not got the travel papers. We are hoping he will join the team soon. He has told us that he will take the very next flight after getting the papers,” Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of CSK, was quoted as saying in a report in Cricbuzz website. 

Pretorius will only be available after South Africa’s ODI series against Bangladesh, meaning he is likely to miss the first game as well as he will exit the quarantine on match-day. 

Among the available players, Ruturaj Gaikwad is fit now and ready for the first match. New recruit Devon Conway will be his opening partner while CSK will have Robin Uthappa at No. 3 instead of Moeen Ali.