Zealand’s powerhouses, including Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santer linked up in Chennai for the Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2024. Another Kiwi player, Devon Conway, who suffered an injury to his thumb, did not go to Chennai as he is set to miss the first half of the tournament.
The official social media handle of the Super Kings posted a special video as the New Zealand players arrived at their den. In the video, the 3 of them were on a video call and Santner asked Mitchell if he got the kits for them to play golf.
In response, Mitchell asked his teammate to take him to a burger spot. In a joking manner, Santner asked Ravindra if he got a haircut because of how hot it would be in Chennai. Then Ravindra and Mitchell joined Santner in person.
The players received a traditional welcome by the hotel staff in Chennai as they had tika on their foreheads and a garland in their necks. The players were all smiles as they posed together on their arrival. CSK captioned the post, “Kiwis on call, Kiwis down the hall.”
Watch the video here-
While Santner has been associated with CSK since 2018, Mitchell and Ravindra were the 2 new recruits from New Zealand. The Kiwi duo grabbed a lot of attention from the franchises after their stellar performance in the ODI World Cup 2023. CSK broke their bank for Mitchell as he got a Rs 14-crore deal. Meanwhile, Ravindra received a whopping price of Rs 1.8 crore.
The defending champions, under MS Dhoni, have begun their pre-season camp at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. The players have been running the hard yards in the nets to prepare for their title defence. CSK will host RCB in a blockbuster tournament opener in their own backyard at the Chepauk Stadium on March 22, Friday.
CSK IPL Squad
MS Dhoni (C), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
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