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Subramaniam Badrinath named three cricketers who deserved to be released from the present Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad ahead of the mini auction. The auction is scheduled to take place on December 16, 2026. Ahead of the players' auction, all of the participating franchises will have to prepare lists of retained and released players.
CSK has already taken over a major haul in their coaching set-up. In a major change, the franchise has appointed Zaheer Khan as their new head coach, replacing Stephen Fleming. As the franchise finished eighth in the points table in IPL 2026, multiple changes are expected in their set of players as well.
CSK to offload multiple talents ahead of the IPL 2027 mini auction
In the previous season, there were very few individuals who had performed in a promising way for CSK. Subramaniam Badrinath, a former Team India and CSK batter, named three players who should be released from the team.
Australia's Matthew Short was the first to be mentioned by the former cricketer in his YouTube video. From Badrinath's point of view, Short is not even close to being called a T20 batter. Although, his batting stats in the format says different. In 175 matches, Matthew Short has scored 4556 runs at an average of 29.58 and a strike rate of 145.28, supported by three hundreds and 29 fifties.
Keeping an eye on the price tags, Badrinath named Rahul Chahar and Prashant Veer for the list of probable released players. Prashant Veer, who got an INR 15 crore paycheck from the Chennai Super Kings in the previous auction, played only six games, scored 90 runs at a strike rate of 134.32, and got to show his bowling skills in two overs overall.
On the other side, Rahul Chahar, who joined the team for a price tag over INR 5 crore, featured only in one match in the previous IPL season and returned without taking a single wicket, leaking 46 runs in 4 overs.
S Badrinath mentions 3 players who must be released
Subramaniam Badrinath noted that as the franchise has already traded out two prolific pacers in the form of Khaleel Ahmed and Nathan Ellis, Super Kings will have to ensure a healthy purse to make some solid purchases from the auction.
"Matthew Short is a sure-shot release. He does not look like a T20 cricketer to me. Rahul Chahar is another name. At 5.2 crores, they did not even play him. He should be released. I would look to release Prashant Veer. You have both Karthik and Prashant at 15 crores each," the former cricketer opined.
"You have also released an Indian fast bowler, so you will need the money to get someone. You can free up about 20 to 22 crores here, so that you can at least pick good players at the auction," he continued.
Players who should be retained according to S Badrinath
In the next part of the video, Badrinath named a few players who should be retained. He suggested his former team retain Zak Foulkes, Shreyas Gopal, Spencer Johnson, and Matt Henry.
"Zak Foulkes, Shreyas Gopal, Spencer Johnson, Matt Henry - I think all these can be retained. You never know when you may need a foreign fast bowler, and Henry is experienced. It is better to keep them," stated Subramaniam Badrinath.
