There’s finally some good news for the defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Thursday as their star English all-rounder Moeen Ali is set to fly to India on Thursday to join the rest of the squad in Mumbai. The 34-year-old Ali, who was one of the four players retained by the franchise ahead of the mega auction this year, is a vital cog in the CSK’s line-up and played a big part in the team’s success last season.

His arrival in India on Thursday will give CSK management a sense of relief as they are also without the services of premier fast bowler Deepak Chahar for the first few matches of the tournament. The spin bowling all-rounder was waiting for the visa clearance to travel to the subcontinent, and the wait is over now as he got his visa papers sorted to travel to India.

According to a report in Cricbuzz, Moeen’s father, Munir Ali, was quoted as saying, “He (Moeen) picked up his paper yesterday and is ready to fly.” Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of the franchise, later confirmed the development by saying, “Moeen will arrive in Mumbai in the evening and will straight away go into isolation.”

However, despite his arrival in India before the start of the tournament, Moeen won’t feature in the first match of this year’s tournament, where Chennai Super Kings will take on last year’s losing finalists, Kolkata Knight Riders, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26) because of the mandatory three-day quarantine.

“He will not be available for the first game against Kolkata Knight Riders, but we are happy that all the uncertainty has ended,” added the franchise CEO.

The overseas all-rounder’s unavailability for the first match will be a big miss for the side as he was a consistent performer for MS Dhoni’s side batting at number three in the 2021 edition, but Ali will be available for selection from the second match onwards if everything goes right.