IPL Teams Come Together

DNA Reports that the franchises of all the nine IPL teams met recently in Mumbai. Though they are not calling it a union, this meeting is to ensure that the franchises are not hood-winked by BCCI. The major agenda seems to be on avoiding multi-crore payment to BCCI for Ravindra Jadeja. 

Interest in Jadeja:

With the disbanding of Kochi Tuskers, all Kochi players would be available in the auction. And since Ravindra Jadeja is the only major coveted player, he is bound to go for secret bidding. 

Demands to BCCI

The representatives have sent their demands to Rajiv Shukla - who has called the governing council meeting on Dec 3rd to discuss the same. 

For more info, please visit @ DNA

An Open Letter to the talented Uncapped Players

Dear Talented & Young Uncapped Player,

I believe that you being courted by many franchises. [What a high & problems that these choices offer L]. And you are serious evaluating the offers made by various franchises. I would like to contribute my two cents on why you should pick Chennai Super Kings ahead of others.

1. Exclusivity: Unlike other teams, we already have a pretty comprehensive team and are not interested in going after every Tom, Dick & Harry in the world. So if you get a call from the Chennai Super Kings team, remember that you are one of the select few who have been called.  And you joining CSK would show to the world that you are a ‘special’ talent in the domestic cricket.

2. A Player’s Franchise:  Don’t trust me on this. Trust what Hayden said in his book about CSK Franchise – “I heard one story about a franchise owner, shattered by his side’s form, calling them to a meeting at 2am. Players were summoned from their sleep for a crisis meeting after they‘d lost a series of games. That would never happen at the Super Kings”.  Please think twice about joining a franchise based on money alone. Experiences & Happiness during the six week period do matter.

3. We Trust Talent: Remember Gony. When he arrived in IPL Season 1 – he was a player never heard of and has just played in a few games in the domestic season. We trusted him since he was the best option available. And in the last auction, he has walked with a 1 crore salary.

4. We Trust Young: Remember Ashwin’s super over in Champions League Cricket. Ashwin was allowed to bowl the over ahead of Murali & Bollinger. Youth never stands in the way of rewarding a better talent & performance in Chennai Super Kings.

5. Chennai Crowd: If you join Chennai Super Kings, we promise that we will love you unconditionally. Yes! We would criticize you if your performance is not matching your talent.  But that does not mean we will stop loving you.  Remember playing before the most knowledgeable crowd in India is a privilege.

6. Being a part of a winning team matters: Some of the other teams might tempt you with the assurance of making you a part of playing XI. But remember that it is not playing before TV audience that matters but winning before TV audience that matters. So pick your teams wisely and pick the team that has the highest probability of winning IPLs.

7. Track Record: When IPL started, Badri, Ashwin, Gony & Vijay were thought not to be ideal for one day/T20 Indian squad, today all of them have played for the Indian squad. Tell me from which other IPL team so many players have Indian caps because of their IPL performance.  Remember your ultimate goal is to play for India.

8. Most Passionate Fans: Which other team has such a comprehensive blog? That itself talks volume about the involvement and passion of Chennai Super Kings Fans. As we adopted Dhoni (Ref: His experience of people talking with him in Tamil during his late night bike travels), we promise to adopt you as our very own.

And surely, it does not hurt that you will seen live by the Indian captain and the chairman of the Indian selections.

Expecting you to pick Chennai Super Kings.

With evergreen love,

-          A CSK Fan

IPL 4 Auction - Day 2 - Analysis

After 2 frantic days of auction, Chennai Super Kings have ended up as the most complete team. If a tournament  happens today with the players bought in auction only, Chennai Super Kings would  have a cakewalk in the tournament. But, it is crucial now that Chennai Super Kings strengthen their weak areas by signing up quality uncapped players. (Remember Mumbai Indians' biggest reason of resurgence in IPL 3 can be attributed to the uncapped players they signed)

Please refer Chennai Super Kings Squad bought in auctions for the complete squad information. 

Positives:

1. Medium Pacers: After the loss of Balaji to Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings showed astuteness to retain Sudeep Tyagi & Joginder Sharma. (Remember CSK would already have 3 foreign pacers - Bollinger, Albie, Bravo/Stryis in the eleven). 

2. Bargain Foreign Buys: Except for Faf du Plessis, all the other players (Scott Styris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suraj Randiv and George Bailey) were all bargain buys.  Can't fault with any of those choices. 

Good Decisions:

1. Balaji: Leaving out Balaji was a tough decision. But it is the right decision at 500K. As I said earlier, we are looking for 2 or 3 economic overs from our third seamer. And Balaji at 500k is expensive at that place. 

Probable Playing XI

1. Michael Hussey - Fact that they did not buy any big buys, shows clearly that they are looking at Hussey as an opener rather than as an middle order batsman. 

2. Vijay 

3. Raina

4. Badri

5. Dhoni

6. Bravo/Stryis - If Bravo is available, this would be the strongest batting attack in IPL. 

7. Albie

8. Ashwin

9. Second Indian Spinner

10. Tyagi

11. Bollinger

Additions we require:

1. Shadab Jakati: Second Indian spinner is the only unfilled spot in Chennai Super Kings. He has shown in earlier versions that he can fill the gap pretty well.. Hope CSK Management already has an agreement with him. 

2. Anirudha: He can fill the opener slot or become a lower order batsman. As his form in the final phase of IPL showed, he would be a valuable addition to any team he joins. 

3. Abhinav Mukund: He has been in fine nick in the domestic season. It is critical that Chennai does not lose him out and reap rewards for the choice they made three years earlier. 

Hope Chennai Super Kings cast their nets wide and get as many quality players as possible. This is the most important phase that would ensure that CSK builds a winning team for the future. (Remember Badri, Balaji, Ashwin, Jakati, Tygai, Gony, etc..  were all signed as uncapped players by CSK in 2008 auction. )

Chennai Super Kings Squad - IPL 4 Auction

#	Player Name	Country	Bought for (Rs)
1	MS Dhoni (retained)	India	1800000
2	Suresh Raina (retained)	India	1300000
3	M Vijay (retained)	India	900000
4	R Ashwin	India	850000
5	S Badrinath	India	850000
6	Sudeep Tyagi	India	240000
7	Joginder Sharma	India	150000
8	Wriddhiman Saha	India	100000
9	Albie Morkel (retained)	South Africa	500000
10	Michael Hussey	Australia	425000
11	Dwayne Bravo	West Indies	200000
12	Doug Bollinger	Australia	700000
13	Scott Styris	New Zealand	200000
14	Ben Hilfenhaus	Australia	100000
15	Nuwan Kulasekara	Sri Lanka	100000
16	Suraj Randiv	Sri Lanka	80000
17	George Bailey	Australia	50000
18	Faf du Plessis	South Africa	120000

IPL Auction - Day 1 - Analysis

After the end of Champions Leagu, Dhoni talked about retaining the same players as much as possible. At that point of time, I believed it was emotions talking. Personally I thought that the team would bid for the players but may not be aggressive on the players. So CSK Strategy at auction 1 has been a complete surprise to me. And the fact that they had locked up 10 Million worth of players at 4.5 Million dollars also really helped in this.

Positives:
1. Ashwin: Retaining Ashwin for 850K is actually a value buy. Fact that the team was ready to bid for 2 Million USD showed his real value
2. Saha: A Good Indian wicketkeeper, who played a test match as a batsman [:-)] is always good. Price of 100K makes him a very good buy and a cover/insurance for Dhoni.
3. Dwayne Bravo: This had to be the steal of the auction. A Quality all-rounder for 200k. Am i dreaming??
4. Hussey: For a quality batsman who can play anywhere in the line-up, he is a quality buy @ 425K.

Overpaid:
1. Badrinath: By his current T20 batting potential, Chennai Super Kings has overpaid him by at least 300K. Hope I am sure that CSK management is seeing something that I am missing
2. Bollinger: Somehow can't accept 700k we paid him. (Considering that Zaheer got paid only 900K). Only reason could be that his attitude has attracted CSK Team and they are confident he would be back to his best of form sooner than later.

Good Decisions:
1. Murali: Considering that Vettori went for 550k, Murali is grossly overpaid at 1.1 Million. Good that Chennai Super Kings did have the sense to stop bidding.
2. Homework: It showed clearly Chennai Super Kings have done their homework before coming to the auction. They know how much to bid for the players they want and did not think twice if they thought that price is more than their budget.

Disappointed:
1. Jacobs: I would have like Chennai Super Kings to have gone aggressive on David Jacobs. At 190K, Mumbai Indians made a great bargain buy. His single purchase made MI team strategy look better. His batting skills is alone worth 300k.


Angry Against:
1. Kochi: Their only strategy was to bid for players we want and drive up prices for us. Pushed us to buy Badri @ 850K.

Strategy for Tomorrow:
1. Opener: We still need to buy an attack-minded opener.
2. Foreign Seamer: Need 1 Indian and 1 Foreign Bowler(Parnell/Theron)
3. Spinner: Need 1 more spinner.

Priority tomorrow would be the foreign bowler and a young aggressive batsman. Hope CSK already have players shortlisted for that.

Awaiting another nerve-wracking day of auction.

IPL Auction 2010 - Live Update

And the auction ends.. A little disappointed that we were forced to overpay for Badri, Ashwin & Bollinger. Should have bidded on Davy Jacobs and Eoin Morgan. But atleast we were able to buy Ashwin. I believe that is a key buy.


Pujara sold for 700K. Badrinath is up for auction next. Again Kochi playing against Chennai..  Just for the heck of it..Badrinath bought for 800K.

Chennai bidding for Brad Hodge.. But lost the bid to Kochi at 425K.

Kapugadera goes unsold.. Chennai has its eyes on Aaron Finch. Now looking for their opening batsman.. But Delhi buy him for 300k..

Amit Mishra for 300K is being a cheap buy. I don't know why other teams did not bid for him.

Chennai shows interest in Ojha. But DC wins for 500k. Murali Karthik Unsold


RCB is playing CSK. We have to pay 850K for him. But he is surely worth the money.. Mendis is Unsold

Spin bowlers. Murali is the first in the list.. Idiots! Pune are bidding for Murali to drive up the prices.. What does Kochi has against Chennai? 900K for Murali is too high. Please stop..Thanks God! We are not bidding for Murali.. At 1.1 Million, he is too expensive..

CSK bidded for Nannes but lost.. Bollinger up for grabs now.. CSK are not interested.. and now they come in at 220K. Is Team Kochi just playing their poker face against CSK or are they interested? Bollinger joins CSK. Reaction from the team shows we have overpaid..  CSK pays 700k for Bollinger

Morne Morkel sold for 475K.. CSK have their eyes on Steyn..But Deccan buy Steyn for 1.2 Million

Ashish Nehra sold for 850k to Pune. Time for CSK to buy a good fast bowler.. Are they waiting for Bollinger? He is not the option. Please buy a fast bowler better than Bollinger.

Praveen Kumar is expensive than Ishant. Sold for 800K to KXIP.  Surprise Zaheer was sold only for 900K.

Ishant Kumar sold to Deccan Chargers for 450K. Chennai Super Kings needs to buy 1 quality fast bowler + Ashwin + 1 more quality bowler.. Let us see who they go after..

Auction for bowlers. James Anderson is the first on the list. People are reluctant to bid first. So good time to buy players. Surprise! Surprise! James Anderson is unsold. 


Overall Verdict of Post-lunch Session: Good. Bravo & Saha are good buys. But would have preferred to go a little aggressive on Jacobs. His batting skills itself should have earned him a 200K. :(


WHOA! WHOA! Another great buy from CSK for Dwayne Bravo!

Pune buys Angelo Mathews. Good Buy..
Nayar goes to Mumbai.. Angelo Mathews now up for auction...We need atleast 1 more quality all rounder. I don't know who does CSK is going after..
CSK bidded for Jadeja.. Once it crossed 300K, CSK stopped bidding.

Mark Boucher remains unsold.  David Jacobs come next. CSK shows interest..But Mumbai wins it for 190K. Actually that is a very good buy for Mumbai.

Dinesh Karthick goes for 900K. Naman Ojha for 270K. Knight Riders buy Brad Haddin at 325K. Tim Paine to Pune for 275K. Matt Prior is unsold.. That is a surprise. But England player's availability will affect their chances.

Parthiv Patel sold to Kochi. CSK buys Saha. Good buy at the base price. A Good Reserve wicketkeeper. So CSK are focusing on getting 25 quality players. 
.
Hussey sold for 1.4 Million.. Lara:Unsold as expected

Dawan sold for 300K to Deccan Chargers. Tiwary is up next..1.4 Million for RCB. Now Hussey looks as the cheapest buy..

Duminy - Sold to Deccan for 300K

Marsh  - Sold to KXIP for 400K

Michael Hussey, CSK Player available for auction -  First buy of CSK. Hussey for 425K. Good Buy. Welcome back Hussey!

Gibss - Unsold.

Jesse Ryder, the first player in the afternoon auction - Unsold

Verdict: Overall happy with CSK Strategy. Not made any foolish choices.. (Except for bidding for Symonds. ) Now have got the leverage to make some good purchases & bargain buys.

RP Singh - Sold to Kochi at 500K. CSK tried  bidding for RP Singh.

Irfan Pathan next in Auction - 1.9 Million  to Delhi  (KXIP now wishing they have retained both Yuvraj & Irfan)


Chris Gayle - Unsold. Surprise of the Auction

Sreesanth sold to Kochi for 900k.. And Kochi gets its mascot..

Brendon McNullum - Chennai should have gone until 500K for Mcnullum. Hmm.. But not a bad decision.

Vettori for 550K. Another good buy by RCB. Feel RCB is overloaded with foreign players.

Lakshman bought by Kochi for 400k

Johan Botha - 950k by Rajasthan Royals. Zaheer went for 900k. God! RCB, Were lucky to get Zaheer.  Again new teams save RCB from making poor buy. MI&RR have a space only for one more big buy.

Robin Uthappa in.. Sold at 2.1 Million to Team Pune. If Raina & Dhoni have been in the auction, how much they would have been sold.. 4.5 Million for Dhoni? 3 Million for Raina? :)

Smith sold at 500K to Pune.

Dravid for 500K to Rajasthan Royals. Good Buy..

Gilchrist for 900K. Another idiotic and poor choice by the teams. A player who won't be able to get into 11 player team goes for 900K.

Sangakkara - 700K to CSK. CSK.. Please don't get into the momentum.. There are a lot more good players in the next phase. Let us wait patiently.. 

Symonds - 850K. Mumbai out of the auction. They can't afford any more. Thankfully CSK did not buy him..

Rohit Sharma - Sold for 2 Million USD to Mumbai. Mumbai making the same mistake again. Now they can buy 1 utmost good player.

Jacques Kallis - Sold for 1.1 Million USD. CSK's Walkout Price - 750K.

Cameron White - Bought by DC at 1.1 Million.  Another Poor Bid. Not a tested player going for big bucks. Might end up being the most expensive Australian Player

Ganguly Next. No bids so far. Not Sold.. IPL Teams make an annoucement.


Verdict of CSK Auction Strategy So Far: Very Good. And RCB have ensured that they get the most bucks from their money. Mostly good buys. Zaheer for 900K is a gift from God.

De Villiers - 1.1 Million for AB de Villiers. Expensive Buy.

Yuvraj - Let see how this goes. If KXIP wanted Yuvraj and Jayawardene so badly. why they did not retain them. Bought at 1.8 Million by Pune..

Jayawardene - Are Kochi nuts to buy Jayawardene for 1.5 Million.. Even Zaheer went only for 900K.

KP - Sold to DC for 650K. Ok Buy...

Yusuf Pathan. Expect another 1 million + bids. CSK is starting the bid.. CSK is bidding aggressively too.. :) Good to see that team has a walk-out price for the players.. Great Home work. Yusuf sold for 2.1 Million USD.

Ross Taylor is next. At 1 million, he is expensive. Sold for more than Zaheer.

Zaheer is coming next.. Expect it go more than 2.4 Million USD. Bought for 900K. Another Good buy from RCB.

Dilshan for 650K. Good buy for RCB.

Gambhir is the first person in the auction. Gambhir for 2.4 Million USD. Now Delhi Daredevils know why they were fools to let him go.. Thank you CSK for not getting into this battle.  Praying that they focus on getting 11 good players and not star players..

IPL Auction Awaits...

And the long-awaited auction begins tomorrow at 10am. If interested, view SET MAX @ 10am for live auction.

Also Read My Strategy on CSK Auction. For the updated auction list, view here. 

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?