Chennai focused on recreating the core team and therefore invested in some of their senior old players. They bought Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar and most of their budget was spent on Chahar. They got Chahar for a massive amount of 14 Crores. The recent form of Deepak Chahar however justified the deal. They already had Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni the captain, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad as their retained players. Chennai needed one replacement for Faf du Plessis to partner Gaikwad at the top and they brought Devon Conway in. Moeen Ali is expected to go at No 3 followed by Rayudu, MS Dhoni, and Jadeja and therefore the top and middle-order look set for Chennai Super Kings. In the bowling department, they got Adam Milne as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood. Obviously Chahar will play important role along with the spinner Prashant Solanki.
While Chennai invested in a bunch of local players which is commendable keeping in my the league’s aim of promoting domestic talents, Chennai’s strategy with Suresh Raina did not go well with the fans. Raina was a mainstay for Chennai side over the years and played vital role to make the team one of the most successful in the history of the league. He passed his glory days, but CSK decided to trust most of their old, experienced players. Therefore excluding Raina from the combination did not get appreciation from many.
Retained Players
Ravindra Jadeja- 16,00,00,000
MS Dhoni- 12,00,00,000
Moeen Ali- 8,00,00,000
Ruturaj Gaikwad- 6,00,00,000
Players bought at auction
Robin Uthappa- 2,00,00,000
Dwayne Bravo- 4,40,00,000
Ambati Rayudu- 6,75,00,000
Deepak Chahar- 14,00,00,000
KM Asif- 20,00,000
Tushar Deshpande- 20,00,000
Shivam Dube- 4,00,00,000
Maheesh Theekshana- 70,00,000
Rajvardhan Hangargekar – 1,50,00,000
Simarjeet Singh- 20,00,000
Devon Conway- 1,00,00,000
Dwaine Pretorius- 50,00,000
Mitchell Santner- 1,90,00,000
Adam Milne- 1,90,00,000
Subhranshu Senapati- 20,00,000
Mukesh Choudhary- 20,00,000
Prashant Solanki- 1,20,00,000
C Hari Nishaanth -20,00,000
N Jagadeesan- 20,00,000
Chris Jordan- 3,60,00,000
K Bhagath Varma – 20,00,000
Full Squad
MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma
Probable XI
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Moyeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Adam Milne, Tushar Deshpande
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