Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) streak of qualifying for the playoffs in every IPL edition they have been part of came to end this year. The three-time champions could only manage six wins from 14 matches and mostly stayed at the last spot in the points table. Thanks to Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals suffered their eighth defeat and replaced CSK at the last spot in the table on Sunday.
While the Yellow Army is confirmed to have the services of MS Dhoni for IPL 2021, the team management is expected to make some changes for the next season. Since there will be no mega-auction, don’t expect mega changes.
Now that the season has come to end for CSK, the Stephen Fleming-headed coaching staff would go back and extract reasons for CSK’s poor run. They will also release some players ahead of IPL 2021 auction. Here’s a look at three players that CSK might release.
Shane Watson
Once again, the team management backed him to the hilt but Watson could only produce 299 runs in 11 matches at a strike-rate of 121.05. Barring his unbeaten half-century against Kings XI Punjab (83*), where he and Faf du Plessis added unbeaten 181 runs for the first wicket, there was no other notable performance from the senior batsman. He was also demoted in the batting order and did not get a chance to play CSK’s final game of the season.
Now that the Yellow Army has found a new opener in Ruturaj Gaikwad, Watson is expected to be released. Watson has already retired from Big Bash League and isn’t expected to return to IPL.
Piyush Chawla
Much was expected from Piyush Chawla, who had joined CSK for Rs 6.75 crore. He was given the lead role in Harbhajan Singh’s absence but Piyush only scalped six wickets in seven matches, bowling at an economy rate of 9.09. It also saw him sitting out for seven matches.
Of course, CSK had bought him keeping in mind that they would be playing half of the matches in Chennai but that didn’t happen. They might bring him for the next season but not at the same price. So for now, expect CSK to release the Indian spinner. Piyush was the costliest Indian pick in IPL 2020 auction.
Kedar Jadhav
62 runs from 66 balls at a strike-rate of 93.93. The stat summarises Jadhav’s run in IPL 2020. He couldn’t even deliver one match-winning performance and was also dropped from the playing XI. He played eight matches and sat out on six occasions.
Jadhav had joined CSK for Rs 7.8 crore in IPL 2018 auction and surely, the owners would be reluctant to keep him after a poor run in IPL 2020. It also remains to be seen if Jadhav can draw a bid in the auction if released by CSK.
Source: Times Now
