'MS Dhoni mentioned it': Scott Styris feels CSK are in 'big trouble' ahead of IPL 2021

Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris is worried for Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2021 after they released their list of retained and released players. A total of six players including Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay and Monu Singh were let go with Styris pushing for the need of the younger generation to take over.

CSK have given preference to experience over young talent in the last few seasons and while it worked in 2018 and 2019, when CSK won a title and finished runner-up the year later, it backfired last season. After the team was eliminated, captain MS Dhoni himself spoke about the need to bring some fresh faces and rejig the side. However, Styris believes the six players that have been released doesn't seem to solve the purpose which Dhoni highlighted.

“I think their hands are tied a little bit. In reality, the storyline for the last three years has been about old is gold and ageing side that CSK has but that was always going to come back and bite them really and that reason for that is you still need the younger generation coming through. MS Dhoni mentioned that. He spoke about handing it over to the next generation. Where that comes from, I don't know,” Styris told Star Sports.

Everything said than done, at the time, CSK will once again rely on experienced campaigners such as Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo, which is why the auction becomes very crucial for the franchise, Styris reckons. CSK head into the IPL 2021 mini-auction, which is likely to take place sometime around February 15, with a purse of ₹22.9 crore, which needs to be spent wisely to fill slots for seven domestic and one overseas player.

“I think they are in big trouble. The players they released were expected to be the older players in the squad. I think a couple are there but who are the backbones? Where is that spine coming from for CSK? When you look at that top order, they're not playing a lot of cricket, so I think CSK have a lot of work ahead of them. The auction is a big part of that, not only for this year but next too,” Styris added.