Akash Singh Replaces Mukesh Choudhary at CSK for the Entire IPL 2023

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has drafted young pacer Akash Singh into the squad ahead of their IPL 2023 season opener against the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Akash comes in as an injury replacement for Mukesh Choudhary, who has been ruled out of the entire tournament due to a stress fracture. The biggest T20 league in the world is currently facing injury concerns as many are getting ruled out for the whole season, joining the list is CSK’s star pacer last season- Mukesh Choudhary. This comes as a huge blow to the four-time IPL winners. 

In a rather disappointing season for the yellow army, Mukesh was one of the big takeaways from the last year’s IPL. He was CSK’s joint-highest wicket-taker, with 16 scalps in 13 games at an economy rate of 9.31. Out of the 16, eleven wickets came in the powerplay, the joint-most by any bowler during this phase in the tournament. Choudhary was expected to play a crucial role this year alongside Chahar. CSK will now miss two of their frontline seam howling options Kyle Jamieson and Mukesh Choudhary. Now it will be down to skipper MS Dhoni and management, how they will use Akash. If he will be given the opportunity or continue to warm the bench for the entire season.

Mukesh Out With Injury

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday named Akash Singh as a replacement for injured Mukesh Choudhary. Mukesh, who made his IPL debut last season and scalped 16 wickets, is recovering from a stress fracture and hence, is side-lined from the 16th edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL),” read the statement on IPL’s website.

Earlier, Akash went unsold at the auction, and now he will join the Super Kings at his base price of INR 20 lakh. The tall lanky pacer, Akash has been signed as a like-to-like replacement for Choudhary. Overall, he has played nine T20s so far, picking up seven wickets at an economy rate of 7.87. Before joining CSK, he played for Rajasthan Royals (RR). 

Chennai Super Kings Updated Squad: MS Dhoni(w/c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwaine Pretorius, Deepak Chahar, Simarjeet Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Bhagath Varma, Tushar Deshpande, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Akash Singh