Gleeson replaces injured Conway at Chennai for IPL 2024

Chennai Super Kings added England pacer Richard Gleeson to their squad in place of Devon Conway. The New Zealand opener was ruled out of IPL 2024 with an injury.

Conway, who represented CSK in the last two seasons, played 23 matches and scored 924 runs, which included 9 half-centuries and a highest score of 92*. He, however, never arrived in India for this edition. The CSK management was hoping that the left-hander would be available for the latter half of the tournament but it wasn't to be.

The addition of Gleeson will strengthen CSK's bowling attack. The right-arm pacer has represented England in 6 T20Is and has 9 wickets against his name. Additionally, Gleeson has played 90 T20s and picked 101 T20 wickets. He will join CSK for his reserve price of ₹50 Lakh.

After beating Mumbai Indians comprehensively in their last match, CSK will next face Lucknow Super Giants at a two-paced Ekana Stadium pitch on Friday.

The two teams endured contrasting fortunes in their previous couple of matches. While Ruturaj Gaikwad's team, still 'marshalled' by the peerless Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is coming into the game with back-to-back victories, LSG under KL Rahul have endured a mini-slump with successive defeats.

With LSG's batting unit not exactly inspiring the highest level of confidence despite its firepower, it remains to be seen how it tackles an attack where each bowler brings something different to the table.

Matheesha Pathirana, with his yorkers, is literally unplayable at the death, while Mustafizur Rahman has at least three variations of cutters, including one with scrambled seam.

Ravindra Jadeja, on tracks where the ball grips like it often happens at the Ekana, could be more than a handful. At Lucknow, it could be an option to play the extra spinner in Maheesh Theekshana to make full use of the conditions.