Uncapped Weet Indies all-rounder Dominic Drakes has been signed as a replacement of injured England cricketer Sam Curran for the remainder of IPL 2021. Sam Curran was ruled out of the tournament as well as England's T20 World Cup squad due a lower back injury that he suffered during one of the IPL matches.

Dominic Drakes is a left-handed batsman and a left-arm medium pacer who has featured in one First-Class, 25 List A and 19 T20 matches so far. Speaking about Sam's injury, an ECB release had earlier claimed, "Results of the scan revealed the injury. He will fly back to the UK in the next couple of days and will have further scans and a full review later this week from the ECB's medical team." Sam Curran later expressed his disappointment over not being part of the World Cup squad and the remainder of IPL. In a video posted by CSK on their social media handle, Sam said, "Extremely gutted. Absolutely loved my time with Chennai this season."

"The boys are doing extremely well. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm leaving the team in a fantastic space. The boys are playing really good cricket. I want to be supporting them from where I am the next few days. Once it's all sunk in, I'll definitely be supporting the team, and I'm sure they can go all the way and lift the trophy," the English all-rounder added. Chennai Super Kings will be taking on Punjab Kings in their last league game on Thursday at the Dubai International Stadium.