Chennai Super Kings stunned one and all by winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in their comeback season. Not many had given them a chance to progress far let alone winning the league in their comeback season. The decision to buy some players aged over 30 further bolstered the apprehensions. However, the MS Dhoni-led side defied all the odds and blew away almost every team that came its way to win the season.
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The defending champions have yet agains put their trust on the core and retained their experienced players, releasing on three players ahead of the auctions. Mark Wood was let go of along with two domestic players Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma. Meanwhile, Mitchell Santner was retained after missing out the whole season last year due to injury.
And the Chennai-based outfit did some smart business in the recently-concluded auction. They bought Mohit Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the auction for Rs 5 crore and 20 lakh respectively to complete their squad which looks much more balanced now.
With their batting lineup looking solid as ever, the Super Kings focussed on buying Indian bowlers and would be happy with their picks. Deepak Chahar, KM Asif and Shardul Thakur were the only Indian pacers who managed some game-time last year. Super Kings bid aggressively for the likes of Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Undakat before beating Mumbai Indians for Sharma.
With Sharma and Gaikwad in the team now, Super Kings will have more options in bowling as well as batting. Sharma had played for Kings XI Punjab last season finishing with seven wickets from nine matches. On the other hand, Gaikwad is an opening batsman who plays for Maharashtra. He has so far played 5 T20s in his professional career scoring 137 runs at a strike rate of 137.89.
Chennai Super Kings complete squad:
MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Billings, Mitchell Santner, David Willey, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mohit Sharma
Players bought: Rituraj Gaikwad, Mohit Sharma