Chennai Super Kings' Strategy during Auction

With the base prices of the players released by BCCI (Complete List available at cricinfo), it is time to plan Chennai Super Kings' strategy during auction. 

Good News from Auction List

1. Ashwin is listed at 100K USD: This means that most of the teams would have spent their money on other players, when his name is picked for auction.

2. Slot 3: Most of the players in CSK fan wishlist (Davy Jacobs, Gambhir, Warner, Bollinger, Eoin Morgan,  Harris, Pujara,Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra) are present in 3rd Slot (Base Price 200K). So Chennai Super Kings have a realistic chance of landing the players they target. 

3. Mathew Hayden: Hayden is not in the auction list. Personally, I expect him to be involved in some capacity (batting coach, reserve batsman, etc.. ) in the next year CSK Setup. 

Bad News:

1. McCullum, Shaun Marsh, Swann, Broad & Ross Taylor: All these players are present on the first list. So it would be tough to land any of them. 

2. Angelo Mathews & Murali: Both of them have choosen to be present in the second Slot. (Base Price of 300K USD). Tough to retain if teams are ready to bid for these players. 

Our Strategy:

As I wrote in my earlier blog post, Chennai Super Kings should focus on buying

1. Opener - (Aggressive Left-Handed Batsman)

2. Strike Bowler - Fast (Preferably a foreigner)

3. Strike Bowler - Spin (Preferably an Indian)

Slot 1

Bid for the following players  - McCullum, Shaun Marsh, Swann, Broad & Ross Taylor & Dilshan. But only if they are priced at less than 600K. 

Reason - No foreign players (other than all rounders) are worth more than 600K. If it Genius Talent, utmost 750k is a reasonable amount. 

Slot 2

Same Strategy as slot 1. Bid for Angelo Mathews & Murali. But bid only until 600K. (Reason same as above). For Zaheer Khan, you can bid until 1.25 Million USD. 

Probable Scenario after Slot 1 & 2: Chennai Super Kings would have bought utmost 1 player during the slot 1 & slot 2

Slot 3:

This is the slot Chennai Super Kings should be really aggressive. Lot of good players are available in this list. And considering that most of the teams would have spent 4.5 Million by now, all the teams would be on a level playing field hereafter.

Aggressive Bidding Strategy:

1. Bollinger/Harris (It is essential Chennai Super Kings lands one of these players. Maximum Bid Value - 450K)

2. Eoin Morgan 

3. Ashish Nehra (If Zaheer Khan is not bought, u can bid until 1 Million for Ashish Nehra)

4. Praveen Kumar (If Zaheer Khan is not bought, u can bid until 750K for Praveen Kumar. Otherwise 600K)

5. Robin Uthappa (Can Bid Until 1 Million for Robin)

6. Dale Steyn (Bid Value - 750K for the world's best fast bowler)

Slot 4:

This is where Chennai Super Kings can make value buys like

1. Ian Bell (worth 300K)

2. Balaji (Worth 200k)

3. Ashwin(Worth 500K)

4. Badrinath(Worth 200K)

5. Pujara (Worth 200K)

6. Morne Morkel/Wayne Parnell (Worth 300K)

7. Maharoof (Worth 500K)

8. Mitchelle Marsh (Worth 100K)

9. Abhishek Nayar (Worth 200K)

10. Theron (Worth 100K)

Slot 5&6: I don't know most of them. So can't make a comment on those players. Other than Dwayne Bravo who is listed at 50K, others might not be a huge value ad. 

Probable Team CSK would be ending with

	Players	Probable Bid Price (In K USD)
1	Vijay	500
2	Davy Jacobs	400
3	Raina	1,300
4	Hussey	400
5	Badrinath	150
6	Dhoni	1,800
7	Albie Morkel	900
8	Maharoof	500
9	Ashwin	500
10	Praveen Kumar	750
11	Bollinger	500
12	Balaji	150
13	Warner/Foreign Opener	300
14	Dwayne Bravo	300
15	Eoin Morgan	200
16	Yo Mahesh	25
17	Shadab Jakati	25
18	Hemang Badani	25
19	Abhinav Mukund	25
20	Arun Kartick	25
21	Srikkanth	25
22	Theron	50
23	Mitchell Marsh	50
24	Mithun/Gony/VRV Singh	50
		8,950

Please suggest what should be CSK's strategy  in each of the slots for the auction?