With the Chennai Super Kings squad departing for United Arab Emirates on Friday, veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will not be boarding the flight due to personal reasons, reported PTI.
Harbhajan is instead expected to join his team within two weeks.
“Harbhajan will not be travelling with the team to Dubai due to personal reasons. He is expected to join the squad in two weeks,” a CSK official told PTI on Thursday.
The team would leave for Dubai on Friday at around 12.45 pm, the official said.
The tournament is taking place in UAE due to the coronavirus situation in India. The 13th edition is set to start on September 19 and end on November 10.
It is worth noting that the 40-year-old spinner was also not part of the brief training camp that CSK conducted in Chennai.
Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur had also missed the camp due to personal reasons, the official said.
However, Thakur joined the squad on Wednesday while Jadeja is likely to fly in later on Thursday.
The players have been training in Chennai since August 15 under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji for IPL beginning September 19. The CSK official added that all the players tested negative for Covid-19 in the second round of testing conducted on Tuesday.