IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings Auction Ratings

CSK auction ratings: 6.5/10

On the return to the premium domestic professional league of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after facing the two-year suspension due to the fixing scandal in 2013, Chennai Super Kings has sealed the 25-member squad which is the maximum allowed the strength of the combination in the lucrative competition.

Interestingly, to strengthen the core, Super Kings further availed the services of Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo, who came through the Right to Match card (RTMs).

The smart move from Super Kings came when Murali Vijay was picked on the second chance to strengthen the opening stand.

With the inclusion of local hero Vijay, the management is expecting the team to pay rich dividends in the upcoming edition which has witnessed a major overhauling.

Learning from the past mistakes, Super Kings have picked some quality players, but somewhat lacked solely in picking the experienced campaigners while banking on the youngsters which is further reflected by the pace battery comprised of South African 21-year-old Lungi Ngidi, England’s Mark Wood and impressive Shardul Thakur, who has been promising with the white-ball.

Moreover, under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the crowd-favourite team Super Kings has further made their die-hard fans to wait eagerly when it came to the crucial pickings during the two-day-long auction in Bengaluru which witnessed 580 players underwent the hammer.

So much so, the smart moves from Super Kings table saw the Men in Yellow sealing the purchases owing to the strength while doing the homework to play the blend of youth and experience.

The two-time IPL champions further focused on the uncapped players, who did well in the domestic cricket as they targeted the experienced all-rounder Shane Watson before maintaining.

While setting the prime focus on the bowlers, Super Kings has expressed the excitement while sealing the players being the most-decorated franchise of the IPL.

With Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja already been in the team following the retention policy, the management was looking forward to building the team for next couple of years while aiming for the winning ways.

Interestingly, lifting the title for consecutive two years in 2010 and 2011, Super Kings is well aware about the procedure which further saw them picking top-notch and quality spinners in the form of Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, and Harbhajan Singh after ending a long-term affair with Ravichandran Ashwin.

Mumbai-based Thakur, the promising paceman was bought in INR 2.60 crore which is an interesting signing alongside Wood, who saw Super Kings shelled out INR 1.5 as Ngidi was sealed at the base price of INR 50 lakh – to give a facelift to the bowling department, but the fast bowling department could have been more balanced had they opted for at least two experienced bowlers.

The side seems to rely more on local youngsters; however, the overseas picking could be reaping rewards for such franchise which is more on the bowling-heavy side.

Moreover, the 10 bowlers are listed in the MSK contingent which further includes eight batters and seven all-rounders.

Concluding, managing their eight overseas players, Chennai could have further opted for experienced overseas batter apart from du Plessis.

In my opinion, the CSK management would collect 6.5 for applying their strategy in the recently-concluded auction.

Here’s the 25-member squad of Chennai Super Kings:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Skipper), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Lungi Ngidi, Kanishk Seth, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Kshitiz Sharma, and Monu Singh.

Follow the IPL news here: Indian Premier League, 2018