With only a couple of days left for the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction to get underway in Chennai on February 18, all eight franchises must be busy preparing their strategies. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be one of the teams to watch out for at the auction.
CSK had a tough time in 2020 edition of the tournament and they would be looking for the replacements of Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, and Kedar Jadhav.
Meanwhile, former India opener Gautam Gambhir has put his views on the same and said the three-time champions shouldn’t do too many changes for IPL 2021. Gambhir reckoned that CSK have reserved their main players and their Indian batting contingent looks pretty much strong.
Gautam Gambhir Suggests K Gowtham and Chris Morris
“With the experience of Raina, Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, and MS Dhoni, they have got a strong Indian batting line-up,” Gambhir was quoted as saying on Star Sports.
“This is only an auction for one season. After this season, there’s going to be a bigger auction. So, I don’t think CSK will have an overall revamp,” added Gambhir.
Gambhir, who had won two IPL titles with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), believes that the Super Kings might go for Krishnappa Gowtham to fill Harbhajan Singh’s shoes, who was recently released by CSK. Gambhir suggested the name of South African all-rounder Chris Morris as Dwayne Bravo’s backup. Further, the former Delhi-opener picked Umesh Yadav as a fast-bowling partner of Deepak Chahar.
“Their core is still intact. They have got Ravindra Jadeja, they’ve got Dwayne Bravo who has been there for such a long time. So probably, they will look at someone like K Gowtham as an off-spinner because they have let go of Harbhajan Singh. And a back-up of Bravo, because MS believes a lot in all-rounders with the kind of surface they play on,” Gambhir mentioned.
“Whether Bravo can play all the games and he’s not getting any younger. And at the same time, an Indian seamer, so it could be Umesh Yadav as well. So, once they have Umesh and Deepak Chahar and then they’ve got a backup, for someone like Dwayne Bravo could be Chris Morris and K Gowtham,” he added.
Chennai Super Kings had a tough time in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League as they were knocked out in the league stages for the first time last year in the 13 seasons and will return with a bang this season.