Ahead of the start of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Dubai, Mumbai Indians legspinner Rahul Chahar expressed concern over the health of his cousin and Chennai Super Kings medium-pace bowler Deepak Chahar, wishing him a “speedy recovery.

IPL has been the latest to fall prey to the coronavirus pandemic with 13 CSK members testing positive, including two Indian players. While the BCCI has not revealed the identity of the two players, Rahul, who is now in Abu Dhabi with his team, had a message for Deepak on his official Twitter account: “Stay strong brother…all my prayers for you”.

Stay strong brother 💪🏻 hoping for your speedy recovery and all my prayers for you 🙏🏻 get well soon @deepak_chahar9 pic.twitter.com/koFKTmORqX

— Rahul Chahar (@rdchahar1) August 29, 2020

Deepak Chahar, who last played for India in December 2019, was a part of Super Kings’ six-day training camp in Chennai, along with captain MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina among others. With more than ten CSK members testing positive, the decision to conduct the camp in Chennai has now come under scrutiny, especially since Triplicane, the area around the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, was a Covid-19 hotspot.

COVID-19 in IPL 2020: CSK with 13 positives, RR with a recovery, Raina returns home

It must be noted here that there is no direct correlation established between the camp and the positive tests, though.

Earlier, a casual chat between the two cousins also went viral where a concerned Rahul asked Deepak why he was not following the pandemic norms – like social distancing and wearing the mask – to which Deepak had replied, “Do we wear masks when ‘we are with our family’.”

Deepak Chahar tested positive for #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/wteMiQWAis

— Viiay (@Mindblinders_1) August 29, 2020

Deepak’s reply has now come back to haunt him.

Meanwhile, CSK suffered another blow when veteran Suresh Raina pulled out of the upcoming season citing “personal reasons”.

Following his exit, teammate Shane Watson posted a heartfelt message for the southpaw-

 

View this post on Instagram

 

@sureshraina3 – you and your family are in my thoughts. You will be dearly missed here @chennaiipl. You have always been the heartbeat of the team so we will be doing everything we can to make you proud. Take care mate and stay safe.

A post shared by Shane Watson (@srwatson33) on Aug 29, 2020 at 3:02am PDT

IPL 2020 will begin from September 19 onwards.