The Chennai Super kings went in with a sound strategy for the IPL auction. They wanted to buy experience on Day 1 and then invested in buying the exuberance of youth.
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The strategy could have backfired(and maybe it still did), had they not recruited a lot of those players that they did on Day 2, but as of now, on paper, this CSK side looks very balanced, having a lot of players who have played for the country at the international level.
But CSK did go all out for a lot of players in the auction, ones that they thought could have further strengthened their line up.
Here are 5 players that CSK should have bought at the IPL 2018 Auction:
Jaydev Unadkat
The lanky Indian left-arm pacer has been the talk of the town since last night, following a record Rs 11.5 crore bid for him from Rajasthan Royals.
The bid went so high for him, one because of his exemplary talent with the slower deliveries and two because CSK were very much interested in him, and were matching RR, bid for bid.
Also Read: Probable XI for CSK in IPL 2018
However, they did bow out of the bid later and let RR have him, a move that backfired in the end, as CSK were left with Rs 6.5 crore at the end of the auction.
Had they used that Rs 6.5 crore and not gone in for Shardul Thakur instead, CSK could have secured the services of Unadkat, who at the moment, is a better bowler than Thakur, who does not possess as many variation as Unadkat does.
Andrew Tye
Andrew Tye has been a revelation in T20 cricket, setting the BBL on fire and performing decently well for the Gujarat Lions in the last two seasons. He took a hattrick for them on debut and ended 2017 with three T20 hat tricks to his name.
Tye has also recently been drafted into the Australian ODI squad, and took a 5-for in the 5th ODI.
Tye has multiple variations of bowling the slower one and can unleash those lethal yorkers as well.
CSK were in the mix for him in the auction, but KXIP went that one step further to secure his services. CSK then had to settle for Wood and Ngidi, both of whom aren’t proven T20 bowlers.
Tye could have been the leader of the attack for CSK, but they’ll now have to be content with Wood and Thakur leading the attack.
Brendon McCullum
CSK have always had a foreign opener in the their team, and while they have bought Watson and retained du Plessis, Mcculum could have been a better choice.
CSK’s strategy was to somehow get their core back to Chennai and hence invested heavily in Dhoni, Raina, Jaddu, Faf, Vijay and Bravo.
With respect to ‘T20 impact’, McCullum would have a far higher rating than Faf du Plessis and thus CSK could have invested in Baz, who would come into the IPL fresh and with a lot of experience from the ongoing BBL.
Manish Pandey
KKR were in search of a number 4, and they wanted an Indian to occupy that spot and hence went in with Kedar Jadhav.
While Jadhav is a very smart buy, considering that he can also roll his arm over during the middle overs and could come in handy, if the opposition has a lot of left-handers in their middle order.
However, Manish Pandey is more suited to that number 4 role, as Jadhav is predominantly a finisher, who bats at number 5 or number 6.
Pandey has a lot of IPL experience, having played 102 matches to Jadhav’s 64. Also, Pandey has a far better average of 28.4 as compared to Jadhav’s 23.5.
Pandey’s experience of having played a lot of IPL at the number 4 slot could have been taken into account by CSK, also that he is 4 years younger to Jadhav.
Ben Cutting/Marcus Stoinis
Both Ben Cutting and Marcus Stoinis have rediscovered their T20 potential in the last 18 months. Cutting was heavily used by Warner in that number 6 role for SRH last season, and used to also bowl in the death for them.
Marcus Stoinis has had brilliant last 12 months for his BBL franchise and his domestic team in Australia. So much so that he has been drafted into the Australian limited overs side, and was also played in the number 3 role in the 5th ODI against England.
Both these all-rounders though would be replacing Bravo in the team(which is one difficult task), and while they wouldn’t be able to match up with Bravo in his death bowling skills, they could more than make up for it in the batting department.
Who else do you think CSK should have gone in for? Let us know in the comments section
