Why is Deepak Chahar not playing today’s match against KKR and who has replaced him?

Chennai Super Kings will be desperate to get back to winning ways by beating high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday (April 8). The match is taking place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and CSK will be looking to make the most of the home conditions.
Under new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK started their campaign in IPL 2024 with two wins at home before losing both the away games. Their winning start came to an end with a defeat against Delhi Capitals in Vishakhapatnam before Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them as well.
Now back at home, CSK will be hoping to capitalize on the familiar conditions and register their third win of the season. However, they will have to do it without their star bowler Deepak Chahar. The fast bowler is not available for the game against KKR.
Deepak Chahar misses out:
Speaking at the toss, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad confirmed that Deepak Chahar would not be playing against KKR because of a niggle. He has been replaced by Shardul Thakur in the playing XI. Thakur is yet to play a game in IPL 2024 and will be hoping to hit the ground running.
“Good toss to win. It looks humid, expecting dew tonight, so we will bowl first. Hasn’t dented our confidence, we have lost by small margins. Everyone is confident in our group, but we have had forced changes. Definitely looking forward to getting a win in this game,” said Gaikwad.
“They are playing a good brand of cricket, we want to keep things simple and want to focus on ourselves. Pathirana is not available, Mustafizur is back. Deepak has a niggle so he misses out, Shardul comes in and Rizvi comes back,” he added.
Deepak Chahar played in all four games for CSK so far. The right-arm pacer did not really look at his best in those four games as he picked up four wickets and maintained an economy rate of 9.16. The injury is not serious and he is expected to return soon. Deepak Chahar would be hoping to regain his top form when he returns to action.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings:
Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy