IPL 2023: MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings Welcome New Players Including Ben Stokes With New Jerseys, Check PICS

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Four-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winners Chennai Super Kings will open their IPL 2023 campaign against the defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday (March 31). Ahead of their departure for Ahmedabad, CSK welcomed the new players like Ben Stokes and Ajinkya Rahane into the squad and unveiled their new jersey by sharing it with them.

Captain MS Dhoni presented Saika Rasheed and former India teammate Ajinkya Rahane with their jerseys, while head coach Stephen Fleming presented Nishant Sindhu with his jersey. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan and owner and former BCCI president N. Srinivasan also presented jerseys to other newcomers in the squad.

Check pictures of Chennai Super Kings sharing new jerseys with news members of the team here…

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Ahead of the season, CSK spent big at the IPL 2023 auction, bringing home England captain Ben Stokes for a whopping Rs 16.25 crore. Stokes will be expected to fill the void left by West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who retired from IPL.

After winning the title in 2021, CSK failed to progress to the Playoffs stages in IPL 2022. Dhoni’s side finished second to last on the points table last year with just 4 wins from 14 matches.

Meanwhile, former India and CSK off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja could be pushed to a higher position in the batting order for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023. Jadeja had a forgettable time in IPL 2022, scoring only 116 runs in 10 innings at an average of 19.33 and picked five wickets at an economy rate of 7.52.

Also, he was the captain of CSK at the start of the competition last year. But MS Dhoni took back leadership duties mid-way and shortly, Jadeja was ruled out for the rest of the tournament due to a rib injury. Now, ahead of IPL 2023, Jadeja enters the competition on the back of bagging ‘Player of the Series’ award in India’s 2-1 Test series win over Australia, as well as playing a pivotal role in the team`s ODI win in Mumbai.

“One player who I am going to have my eyes on will be Ravindra Jadeja. I want to see what kind of batting he`s going to do for CSK. I think he`ll be pushed higher up in the batting order (this season). As well as his four overs with the ball (will be key). If you look at world cricket currently, there’s no better all-rounder than him. So, I am looking forward to seeing Ravindra Jadeja performing in the IPL,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Star Sports, the official TV broadcasters of IPL 2023.

(with IANS inputs)