IPL 2022: Will Moeen Ali miss CSK vs KKR game? Netizens fret over his absence from squad

The Indian Premier League(IPL) 2022 is all set to kick off on March 26, with the tournament opener between Chennai Super Kings(CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. All of the 10 participating teams of the tournament began their training camp for the tournament last month, with CSK practicing at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat. However, there is major concern about the participation of one of the top stars of CSK in the campaign opener, as visa issues have delayed his travel into the country. 

The player in concern is English allrounder, Moeen Ali, who was retained by the team for an amount of INR 8 crore. He has been awaiting clearance of his travel documents by the Indian High Commission in the UK. As per Cricbuzz, speaking about Ali, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan said, “He had applied for his visa on February 28. It has been more than 20 days since the application was submitted. He has been a frequent traveler to India and yet he has not got the travel papers. We are hoping he will join the team soon. He has told us that he will take the very next flight after getting the papers”. The CEO also added that BCCI is also involved in helping Ali’s case.

CSK fans worry about Moeen Ali's delayed visa-

Meanwhile, CSK fans are worried if Moeen will reach India in time to join the squad for the opening match as he is one of the reasons, CSK won their fourth IPL title last year. A fan tweeted about it and hoped Moeen gets his Visa thing sorted ahead of the CSK vs KKR match. A fan said CSK should announce when Moeen will come, while another fan said, “Someone go to UK and bring Moeen Ali”.

Moeen Ali's importance in CSK setup -

Moeen scored a total of 357 runs and contributed with six important wickets during CSK’s title-winning season in 2021. He proved to be a valuable asset for skipper MS Dhoni and the franchise displayed their trust in him by naming him as one of the four retentions ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. CSK named Ravindra Jadeja as their first retention for 16 crores, Dhoni as the second retention for 12 crores, while Moeen for eight crores and Ruturaj for six crores were the third and fourth retentions respectively. 

CSK’s Full Squad for IPL 2022: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayadu, Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitch Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma

(Image: iplt20.com/BCCI)