MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be heading into the IPL 2024 Auction to form a balanced squad. In what could well be Dhoni’s last stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), CSK will be to iron out the creases to form the perfect squad for ‘One Last Ride’ for Thala.
A total of 333 players will go under the hammer on 19th December in Dubai. Out of which only 77 slots are available while 30 are reserved for foreigners. The CSK squad is more or less set. They have a remaining purse of Rs 31.4 crore which they will spend on 6 players out of which 3 are slated for foreigners.
The main agenda for CSK will be give a perfect send off for MS Dhoni. And for that they need to dust off any chinks in their armour. On IPL 2024 retention day, CSK released some key players that includes the likes of Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Kyle Jamieson, and Sisanda Magala. Ambati Rayudu has retired and will also be a big miss for the yellow army.
Despite keeping their core team set, it will be a tough job for CSK to replace the released players. With a heft amount in the bank, CSK who likes to play bold is likely to invest big bucks on a couple of foreigners and increase the core strength of the team.
CSK current squad: Ajay Mandal, Ajinkya Rahane, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shaik Rasheed, Shivam Dube, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande
CSK released players: Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, K. Bhagath Varma, Subhranshu Senapati, Ambati Rayudu, Kyle Jamieson, Akash Singh, Sisanda Magala
Purse left: Rs 31.4 crore
Slots remaining: Six (three overseas)
CSK Auction Strategy
Chennai Super Kings are in the desperate need to find a top order batter. They simply can’t reply on their openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. Down the order, at number 3 they have Ajinkya Rahane. Now that is a big gamble for MS Dhoni and Co. While Rahane donned a new role in IPL 2023 where to took the role of an aggressor, it cannot be the same case a year later.
Ideal picks at number 3 will be the 2 top most sought players – Rachin Ravindra and Travis Head. The duo impressed the entire world in the ODI World Cup and have been on the radar of every IPL side. Should CSK go all guns blazing for the duo can be a far fetched idea, but CSK can likely go for either of them.
Another major missing for CSK will be their star all-rounder Ben Stokes. The England star decided on workload management and has therefore pulled out of the tournament, Furthermore with Sisanda Magala being released, CSK will surely go for an overseas pacer.
Shardul Thakur, ex CSK player can find a way back for a perfect all-rounders role. As for Indian pacers, Harshal Patel is the hottest pick for the teams. For the foreign players, the likes of either of Josh Hazelwood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc be a perfect fit for the yellow jersey.
Editors pick
