Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
IPL 2021 Auction: 5 Players CSK Can Target for IPL 2021 | How could the CSK squad look for the Indian Premier League season 2021?
Chennai Super Kings had a horror season in IPL 2020. They won only six out of 14 matches and finished in seventh position. 2020 was the first time in 11 years of CSK that they didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Dhoni’s approach of persisting with the old and out of form players failed this time and he himself looked rusty and it was evident that most of the players in the team lacked match practice.
But everything wasn’t bad for them as they found some “sparkling” young talents in the squad in Ruturaj Gaekwad who scored three consecutive fifties in the last three games for CSK in IPL 2020. They also have Narayan Jagadeesan in the squad who has been brilliant in the recently finished Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). R Sai Kishore has been brilliant in the same tournament too.
Dhoni made it clear that CSK will go through a revamp in the upcoming season. We can expect a complete revamp in the mega auction of the 2022 season but they’ve already started the process by releasing Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Monu Singh, Murli Vijay and Shane Watson (retired) before the 14th edition of the tournament. They have put faith in DJ Bravo and Imran Tahir for one more season. CSK CEO said that they’ll go for young players in the 2021 Mini-auction.
Here five players that CSK can pick in the IPL 2021 auction:
5. Mohammad Nabi (Trade from SRH)
I know it’s highly unlikely but CSK can look to trade Nabi from SRH. After releasing Harbhajan Singh there is no off-spinner in the CSK squad at the moment. Jadeja, Tahir, Sai Kishore, Santner, and Karn Sharma all turn the ball away from the right-hand batter. Mohammad Nabi just fits into this CSK setup with his wily off-spin bowling and lower order batting value (and his age of course).
He performed relatively well in BBL 10 and was exceptional in the CPL 2020 with the ball. Nabi doesn’t get a lot of chances in SRH with Kane as the fourth overseas player and CSK needs someone like him so there is a chance that we can see him in Yellow this season.
4. Krishnappa Gowtham
Krishnappa Gowtham can be picked by CSK as he is an off-spinner too and is more than handy with the bat. Not at the same level as Nabi at the moment but he is young and is an Indian player so he can be a good option for CSK. Gowtham showed glimpses of his batting talent in the last edition in the limited chances that he got.
He can control the flow of runs in the middle overs and can score with the bat lower down the order and won’t even take the overseas slot in the XI. Gowtham has a career strike-rate of 159 in T20s and 169 in IPL and is good with the ball. And with CSK looking for youngsters Gowtham can be a good pick for them.
3. Chris Morris
We can see Chris Morris return in Yellow in IPL 2021. CSK did bid for him in the last auction before he was picked by RCB but now after he is released CSK can go for him. Morris can fix the chronic death bowling issue of CSK. He is very handy with the bat and can strengthen the bowling unit of CSK.
Chris Morris has 80 wickets in 70 IPL games and has 551 runs at a strike-rate of 157.88. He had 11 wickets in 9 games at an economy of 6.63 in the last season playing for RCB. The only thing against him is his fitness as he has been injury-prone for some time now but if he’s fully fit for the IPL then he can be a very valuable pick for the Chennai Super Kings.
2. Moeen Ali
RCB released Moeen Ali and he can be a great pick for CSK. He can open or bat in the middle or lower-middle order with a high strike-rate and is a good player of spin. He bowls off-spin which is the need of the hour for CSK and is a LHB who can be used as a floater. He has a strike-rate of 158.46 after 19 games in the IPL. He can add to the batting depth and will be a great option with the ball bowling his off-spin.
He will be suited for the slow track on which CSK thrives as he is a good player of spin bowling. Moeen Ali in CSK may seem a very unlikely pick but with CSK you never know.
1. Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell is another option CSK can go for in the auction. Maxwell’s performance was very poor in the last edition of the IPL he failed to even hit a six in 14 games but he performed well for the Aussies when they toured England, hosted India and was in terrific touch in the BBL as well. He too can give 3-4 overs from his off-spin and we all know how devastating he can be with the bat on his day. He plays spin well and can be the enforcer for CSK in the middle-overs.
Dhoni and CSK prefer chasing and he can be a great pick for them with his hard-hitting. Although his form in the IPL hasn’t been the same since IPL 2014, he is a quality player and MS knows how to get the performance out of his players so don’t be surprised to see Maxwell in the Yellow jersey for the Super Kings.
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You never know what a team management is thinking and whom they are planning to buy but looking at the team composition of CSK I think they’ll go for an off-spin all-rounder who can bat too. CSK batted second in 10 games in the last IPL and won only 5 of them, this hurt their chances of play-offs as they depended a lot on Dhoni to chase down the targets and get them over the line.
These players are good with both the bat and the ball and can do well for CSK. But one can never predict what Dhoni will do so don’t be surprised to see some very unexpected picks from CSK in the auction.
Thanks for Reading!
Written by Robin Rounder. Follow Robin on Twitter today.
