Chennai Super Kings had a forgettable season in the 2022 edition, where they finished 9th in the points, just above Mumbai Indians. This was the 2nd time in the last seasons that they had been pushed to the bottom of the table. As expected, there were a handful of changes to the CSK personnel ahead of the 2023 IPL mini-auction.
What happened?
CSK released as many as 8 players during the player retention that happened just a few days back, and one of the most important decisions that the team management took was to release the all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. The West Indies pacer was a prominent part of the CSK team for quite some time and had been their primary match-winner. But with age catching up and injuries piling, CSK decided to move on from Bravo. He may, however, come back to CSK in some capacity.
The other expected release was that of batter Robin Uthappa who announced his retirement from IPL cricket a couple of months back.
Retained Players
MS Dhoni (Captain), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana
Released Players
Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Adam Milne, Hari Nishaanth, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma, KM Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan
Who will they target in the upcoming Auction?
Purse remaining going into the auctions INR 20.45 crore
Players got through trade from other teams: 0
Overseas slots remaining to be filled: 2
With over 20 crores left, CSK will look to go for an all-rounder who can replace Dwayne Bravo, and one of the ideal candidates they might target is Sam Curran. Curran was in CSK colors in the 2021 edition and missed out on the 2022 season due to injury. He was the player of the tournament in the 2022 World T20, and it is fair to say buying back Curran will be on CSK’s agenda. Another area they need to fill is the fast bowler’s slot left vacant by England’s Chris Jordon.
Also, a couple of quality Indian batters will be the need of the hour for CSK, as that has been a cause of concern for them in the last edition.
