Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have signed England batsman Alex Hales as a replacement for Australian speedster Josh Hazlewood who pulled out of the IPL 2021 due to busy schedule of international cricket. Australian pacer was part of the CSK team in the last IPL played in the UAE last year.
Hales, despite being a mainstay in England’s white-ball set-up for quite a while now, went unsold in the IPL auction held in February this year. The explosive opening batsman, has played only for SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL. In his brief IPL career of just six matches, Hales has scored 148 runs with the strike rate of 125.42 per innings.
Josh, on the other hand, made his IPL debut in 2020 but has only made 3 appearances till now.
The 14th edition of the IPL is set to begin on April 9, with a mouth-watering clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and RCB.
Meanwhile, Dhoni and Co are set to play their first game against Delhi Capitals (DC), led by Rishabh Pant, on 10th April at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
