CSK boys reunite! Suresh Raina shares image with MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar and others enroute Chennai - See pic

On Friday (August 14), the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) chartered plane, comprising MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and other teammates, left for Chennai for a preparatory camp ahead of the franchise's departure to UAE, where the IPL 2020 edition is set to kick off from September 19.

After much delay, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CSK boys finally reunited and will now return to outdoor training in full swing before this year's IPL edition commences in the UAE from next month. Raina took to his official Twitter handle to share the image, comprising Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Monu Singh, Karn Sharma, etc.

The reunion of Dhoni and Raina, known as 'Thala' and 'Chinna Thala' respectively in Chennai, has gained eyeballs as the duo share a great bond with each other, both on and off the field. They met in March this year before the franchise had to postpone the training camp in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus. Since then, all players returned home and tried to be in shape as much as possible. 

Raina was one of the first Indian cricketers to have hit the nets post the restrictions were lifted in the country, by the central government, in a bid to restore normalcy. Both Raina and Dhoni will return to the cricket field after a long gap, having played for the national side in mid-2018 and July 2019 respectively.

If Raina wishes to prolong his international career, the swashbuckling left-hander would be hopeful to go all-out in the forthcoming IPL season. Meanwhile talking about the 39-year-old Dhoni, it remains to be seen if he will make himself available for Team India or not. However, the CSK CEO has recently confirmed his presence in the Yellow Army for another 2-3 years, at least.

In this regard, he told India Today, "We can expect MS Dhoni to be part of both (IPL 2020 and 2021) and probably for even the next year 2022. We don't have to worry about the skipper, boss. We don't worry about him at all. He knows his responsibilities and he will take care of himself and the team."