IPL 2021 Auction: MS Dhoni And Stephen Fleming Will Not Attend The Auction, To Remain Connected Digitally

Chennai Super Kings captain, MS Dhoni, and head coach, Stephen Fleming will not be present in person in the upcoming IPL 2021 Auction which is slated for 18th February in the city of Chennai.

While MS Dhoni normally doesn’t attend any auction, however, since he has retired from international cricket, it was possible that he’d show up at the auction table, but he won’t. Stephen Fleming, who is often seen at the auction table, bidding for the players, will also not be in Chennai – the former Kiwi skipper is currently in New Zealand, and would have been asked to serve a mandatory quarantine period upon arriving in India.

Hence, both the major think-tank of the 3-time champions will not be seen in the auction room.

However, CSK CEO, Kashi Vishwanath, has informed the media that both MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming will be connected with the people in charge of the auction via digital mediums.

“They (Fleming and Dhoni) are not coming to Chennai for IPL Auctions but in today’s time, there are so many mediums to stay connected. They will be with us digitally,” Kashi Vishwanath told InsideSport.

While CSK’s coach won’t be present at the auction table, Fleming’s compatriot and the Director of Cricket of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mike Hesson, is set to take charge of the auction proceeding for his team on Thursday. Hesson has landed in India earlier this month and has completed his quarantine and will be seen bidding up for players to include in the RCB roster.

CSK has 6 slots available; only 1 overseas slot left to fill

After a disappointing season last year – CSK failed to finish in the top 4 for the first time in the IPL – the franchise released 6 players. While Shane Watson has retired from all forms of the game, the Yellow Army offload Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay, and Monu Singh from their squad of last year.

They have traded in the veteran batsman, Robin Uthappa from the Rajasthan Royals and will go with 19.9 crores in the auction. The franchise has 6 slots available to fill, out of which they could buy a maximum of 1 foreign player.

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