Back in 2008, when most of the teams were looking for “icon players” ahead of the first-ever IPL auction, Chennai Super Kings were focussed on the mathematics. Instead of shedding the extra bucks on “icon players”, the management was keen on getting MS Dhoni at any cost. There was a battle with Mumbai Indians on the table but Mumbai’s decision to rope in Sachin Tendulkar as the “icon player” didn’t allow them the purse to go all-out for the Indian skipper.
The Rs 6 crore bid by CSK for Dhoni was the biggest of the auction and the journey of Mahi from Ranchi to Thala of Chennai began. While most teams wanted to have that home connect in place with their “icon players”, CSK went Dhoni’s way as the wicketkeeper-batsman was in the market as his home state didn’t have an IPL team. Virender Sehwag went to Delhi Daredevils, Yuvraj Singh to Kings XI Punjab, Rahul Dravid to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sachin Tendulkar to Mumbai Indians.
Over the years, most of the “icon players” mentioned above kept moving bases but Dhoni and CSK turned out to be a match made in heaven. Season after season, Dhoni grew on Chennai and they responded to the former Indian captain with a lot of love. Thalla became the toast of the state and CSK without Dhoni is a situation no local wants to come to terms with.
The likes of R Ashwin, Murali Vijay, S Badrinath and Abhinav Mukund, the local players from Tamil Nadu, have represented the team for a decent period in the past but none of them have managed to strike a chord like Dhoni did. And for that matter how Suresh Raina, from Uttar Pradesh, did as their “Chinna Thala”.
The last five years have seen very few Tamil Nadu players in CSK ranks. In 2012, there were as many as eight TN players in the squad but the count dropped to just two in the 2022 edition. Hari Nishaanth and N Jagadeesan were the two players who were part of the squad and both were released ahead of the 2023 mini-auction. Fourteen TN players played in the IPL this year but only two were part of the CSK set-up.
Will CSK go big on local talent this time?
The upcoming IPL mini-auction in Kochi allows CSK an opportunity to rope in some local players. TN have shown lot of improvement in white-ball competitions in the last five years and plenty of players have dished out consistent performances with both bat and ball in the domestic circuit. Of the 405 players shortlisted for December 23 bidding, 16 are from TN.
CSK’s remaining purse is Rs 20.45 crore and the current squad size of 18 allows them to go big on certain players and make up the numbers with cheap uncapped buys. N Jagadeesan should be on the franchise’s radar but his recent exploits in the domestic circuit won’t make him a cheap buy. Plus there are other teams who need a top-order wicketkeeper-batsman.
All-rounders in the middle order are something they could look at and have backups in place for Ambati Rayudu and Shivam Dube. Baba Aparajith, who was with the franchise from 2013 to 2015 but didn’t get a game, fits the bill perfectly for the middle-order as he is a good player of spin and a handy off-spinner too.
And if N Jagadeesan’s doesn’t fit in their budget, they could look to get the services of Baba Indrajith, who played as wicketkeeper-batsman for KKR in the last edition, at the base price. With the home and away format, having players well-versed with local conditions could be a big plus for the franchise.
A quick look at the squad sheet suggests there are very few additions CSK would want to make. Getting Sam Curran back in the mix would be on top of their agenda and then finding the right domestic talent to cover up for the existing talent pool. Rayudu is not getting any younger so middle-order spot backup is one. A local left-arm spinner in M Siddharth should interest them too as he is known for his accuracy and has a mean arm ball. The other left-arm spinner available from TN is Sanjay Yadav, who was part of the Mumbai Indians last year. He can hit a long way and is an effective operator with the ball in the shortest format.
Tamil Nadu players in CSK camp over the years
2012: Srikkanth Aniruddha, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, Abhinav Mukund, Yo Mahesh, Murali Vijay, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, Ganapathi Vignesh,
2013: Aparajith, Srikkanth Aniruddha, S Badrinath, Vijay Shankar, R Ashwin, Ravi Karthikeyan, Murali Vijay
2014: Aparajith, Ashwin, Vijay Shankar
2015: Baba wAparajith, R Ashwin
2018: N Jagadeesan, Murali Vijay
2019: N Jagadeesan, Murali Vijay
2020: Jagadeesan, R Sai Kishore, Murali Vijay,
2021: Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan,
2022: Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan
(CSK were banned from the IPL in 2016 and 2017 editions)
Chennai Super Kings
Remaining Purse: INR 20.45 crore
Released Players: Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Adam Milne, Hari Nishaanth, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma, KM Asif, N Jagadeesan
Current Squad: MS Dhoni (c), 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
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