The 23-year-old could not feature in the team at the start of their campaign as he was one of the two players who tested positive after landing in Dubai and was forced to go into a 15-day quarantine. While Deepak Chahar recovered in time to play for the team at the start of their season, Dhoni explained after the last match that Thakur’s COVID lasted more than 20 days, forcing him to stay in isolation and away from the team for a very long duration.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming, on Sunday, in fact said that they may have played him before he was prepared, when he got his season debut against Rajasthan Royals on 22 September.
‘We knew how good we was from the last 2 years and his pre-season in Chennai was outstanding. One of the disappointments was that he got sick and the fact that it (COVID-19) hung around for so long, people underestimate what it does to a player, mentally and…