IPL Auction 2021: 3 players who could be perfect match for Chennai Super Kings

The Chennai-based franchise has always valued experience, they are likely to keep that factor in mind while bidding on Thursday.

Chennai Super Kings had a horrendous time at the Indian Premier League 2020. With some of the key players opting out of the tournament, the 3-time title winners struggled throughout the season. Ultimately, they finished at 7th position in the league stage. Moreover, it was for the first time in the history of the league that CSK failed to make it to the play-offs.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni. (PTI)

But it’s time to move on and begin afresh. The franchise has already released a total of six players and team’s think tank will be participating in the players’ auction which is lined up on Thursday in Chennai. A total of 292 players have been enlisted for the shortened auctions. 164 of them are Indian and 125 overseas. There will also be three associate players in the auction.

Let’s have a look at available purse and team strength of Chennai Super Kings:

Total money spent: ₹ 62.10 crore

Salary cap available: ₹ 22.90 cr

Available slots: 7

Overseas slot: 1

The MS Dhoni-led side has retained the core-team which consists the players like Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Chahar. They also got Robin Uthappa through the trading window ahead of the auctions.

As the franchise has always valued experience, they are likely to keep that factor in mind while bidding for players on Thursday.

Here are the three players CSK can bid for:

Chris Morris: The South African All-rounder brings in enormous experience with him. A fantastic hitter of the ball and a prolific wicket-taker, Morris is the kind of cricketer CSK would like to have in their ranks. He was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous season for a whopping sum of ₹ 10 crores last year. After getting released, he will be available at a base price of ₹ 75 lakh.

K Gowtham: All-rounder Krishanppa Gowtham can be a good replacement for veteran Harbhajan Singh who opted out of the previous season citing personal reasons. He was bought by Rajasthan Royals for ₹6.2 crore at the 2018 auction from his base price of ₹20 lakh. Later, he was traded to Kings XI Punjab. After getting released from KXIP, he will be available at a price of ₹ 20 lakhs.

Umesh Yadav: Indian quick Umesh Yadav can back the pace department of CSK which already has bowlers like Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar. Umesh, who has been released by Royal Challengers Bangalore, will be available at a base price of ₹ 1 crore.