Players for the next few years!!!

As Harsha pointed out in his CNN-IBN Discussion, Chennai Super Kings' consistent performance owes a lot to their intelligent choices in the first auction. Picking Dhoni was a master-stroke. And focusing on T20 international all-rounders was also an intelligent decision. [VB deserves Kudos for this]  For the squad and prices paid, please refer http://blog.cskfansite.com/2008/02/chennai-super-kings-squad.html. But the auction that is coming up is much more crucial since 

1. Other Franchises are not so dumb any-more :)

2. This would be an eternal team unlike the first auction. 

Things We Know about the Auction 

1. It would happen in November. That means, Champions League in October provides CSK to analyse their players and an opportunity for players to increase their price tag. 

2. As the first auction showed, top four players' salaries would contribute 50% of the total salaries (i.e. 3.5 Million Dollars) and Top 7 players' salaries would be 75% of Total (i.e. 5.25 Million Dollars). So it is paramount that the team makes intelligent choices of the top 7 players. 

Things We don't know about the Auction

1. Still there is not enough clarity on how many players would be allowed to be retained by the franchises. Now that task of determining the number is assigned to Ravi Shastri, Gavasakar & Pataudi. Personally i expect  4 Domestic Players + 4 Foreign Players to be retained by the franchises. 

Indian Players who will stick with CSK

1. Dhoni - If you are not sure, hear his post-match talk

2. Local Boys Ashwin & Vijay - After their performance this season, they are bound to be tempted to try out the auction. But sticking with CSK would make more sense - For the simple reason that they are bound to get more opportunities in CSK Team. 

3. Badri & Balaji - Though Badri & Balaji might want to try green pastures, their best chances of playing in the team remains with CSK.. [Badri, If you are thinking about shifting loyalties, see what happened to Kaif after his move to KXIP]

Other Players I want to Retain

1. Raina - His consistent performance in 3 ipls has ensured that he would double his auction price. [I am sure one of the newer teams might even tempt him with captaincy]. Hope he sticks around since CSK setup would be lot better than others. 

2. Albie: His All round skills has allowed the team to play that extra player in the team. Hopes he also sticks around. Being a foreign player, I am sure his price would not increase  that much this auction

3. Dougie: Hope he stays. Don't know his price, so can't comment whether he would stay. 

3. Flintoff & Oram: Being all-rounders, I would like them to stay.. I expect both of them to be fit for the Champions League. So can make an informed after their CL performance. But Flintoff's price should be rationalized since international players would not get so much money IPL4. (unless ofcourse you are Kerren Pollard)

4. Ntini, Murali & Hussey: For just being such good team players, they are worth every penny.. 

Summing Up

Indian Players I want to Retain(In the Order of Preference)

1. Dhoni

2. Raina

3. Vijay

4. Ashwin

5. Badri

6. Anirudha

7. Balaji

8. Tyagi

Players I Don't Want to Retain

1. Gony

2. Joginder

3. Parthiv Patel

4. Pererra

Foreign Players to be Retained 

1. Albie

2. Dougie

3. Oram

4. Flintoff

5. Murali

6. Hussey

7. Ntini

My Wishlist For Auction (I have not included any doubtful players who might or might not be retained)

1. Dinesh Karthick & Yo Mahesh (Expect DD to retain only Sehwag, Gambhir, Nehra & Mishra)

2. Any of these Foreign Players Not Retained by DD  - Warner/Dilshan/Maharoof

3. Shane Watson

4. Ravindra Jadeja

5. Sohail Tanvir

6. Vignesh & Satish

7. Mithun & Manish Pandey (Future Players to look out for. I am sure they would also come cheap)

What are your picks??

Second IPL Auction Today

The second IPL Auction is happening today(March 11, 2008). But with the leftover amount from the first auction ($23,750), Chennai Super Kings could not afford to make any purchases. So Chennai Super Kings' focus today would be on Under-19 Players, rather than on the international players. [To know more about draft system followed for picking U-19 players, read Cricinfo]

As an representative of the Chennai Super Kings representative shared in Cricinfo,

"We don't have any money left to buy any big player. And we have quite a few foreign players already in our squad and only four can play can anyway. So we'll go after the U-19 players."

IPL Auction

Times Now has an in depth report on how each round of auction took place on Hilton Towers. Read the article here.

Inside Scoop of Dhoni's Purchase

Cricinfo has an inside scoop of why Chennai bought Dhoni for such a high price. Ajay S Shankar of Cricinfo calls it as a "decision that finally ended up shaking the game."

Chandrasekhar, selector for Chennai Super Kings, explains the reason for 1.5 Million USD purchase of Dhoni
"But for us, a player like that is priceless. He can create ripples with his game, and we can get our team to play around him," VB Chandrasekhar, former India cricketer and national selector, and who raised that last paddle for Chennai, said. "I have seen him transform from just someone from Jharkhand to what he is today."


It also had an inside scoop on how Chennai did it. According to the report, Mumbai was the team that pushed Chennai to its brink, ultimately resulting in such a high price.

"Mumbai went one step further, and then Chennai did a strange thing. "We bid around the US$1.1 million to US$1.2 million mark, and as planned, tried to suggest with our body language that we would not go further," a source in Chennai's auction team said. "Reliance [Mumbai's owners] immediately went up for around US$1.3 million, and we put up US$1.5 million. We knew they couldn't match that as they had Sachin Tendulkar as their icon player, who would have to be paid 15% more, and their spending for just two names would have crossed US$3 million"

Where is Dinesh Karthik????

This would have been the question in the hearts of every cricket lover from Chennai, on seeing the list of players won by Chennai Super Kings in the bidding war. Unlike cities like Bangalore or Mumbai, Chennai boasts only one player(Dinesh) from its city who is a member of current Indian Cricket team. So, when Chennai Super Kings went for the auction today, it was expected by one and all, that Dinesh Karthik would be a part of the team. Surprisingly, the team that went all the way to win Dhoni, did not pick Dinesh Karthik.

Yeah! With Dhoni on board, we need not have to pay such a huge price for a reserve wicket keeper. [Delhi bought Dinesh Karthick for US $ 525,000 making him the most expensive wicket keeper outside the star ones - Dhoni, Gilchrist and McCullum]. There may be a sound logic why Dinesh Karthick is not in the team. But we, the fans are going to come to the stadium not because our heads say it is a logical decision. But because our hearts says "How could we miss the game?". And that heart asks why Chennai Super Kings did not pick the man from its own soil?

Hopefully Chennai Super Kings' management and selectors do not make future mistakes like this.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

No	Players	Price	Country
1	MS Dhoni	US$1.5 million	India
2	Muttiah Muralitharan	US$600,000	Sri Lanka
3	Matthew Hayden	US$375,000	Australia
4	Jacob Oram	US$675,000	New Zealand
5	Stephen Fleming	US$350,000	New Zealand
6	Parthiv Patel	US$325,000	India
7	Joginder Sharma	US$225,000	India
8	Albie Morkel	US$675,000	South Africa
9	Suresh Raina	US$650,000	India
10	Makhaya Ntini	US$200,000	South Africa
11	Michael Hussey	US$350,000	Australia

Chennai Super Kings snaps up Dhoni

As Chandrasekhar(Chief Selector of Chennai Super Kings) said in his earlier interview, he has proved that 'Not having an iconic player is a plus'. Chennai Super kings makes an aggressive bid for the flamboyant wicket keeper batsman from India. With Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings gets a good wicket keeper, an aggressive batsman, a thoughtful captain and most of all, a very intelligent player and a crowd puller.

Hats off to Chandrasekhar for also getting Muralitharan, an intelligent choice, considering the fact that Murali is also a Tamil.

Dhoni & Murali! Welcome on board!