HT alleges that Senior Cricket Official is arm twisting Uncapped Players

Anyone reading the following HT report will assume that they are referring to Chennai Super Kings (Southern Franchise & Senior Indian Cricket Board Official Combo) and that the players are Ambatti Rayudu & Shadab Jakati. 


Though this is nicely written as if the guilty party is Chennai Super Kings, it might actually refer to Bangalore Royal Challengers. (Refer: Siddharth Mallya's visit to Ranji Trophy Final to meet Rayudu & Anil Kumble is actually a senior Indian Cricket Board Official). Also it might actually be a franchise with powerful influence in newspapers preventing other franchises from signing players they want (Refer: Radiagate & the fact that one of the owners of IPL employs Radia). So just remember that there might be more to this story than actually meeting the eye. 

Rumors - CSK Sign 6 Uncapped Players

Twitter world is abuzz with unconfirmed reports that Chennai Super Kings has already signed six uncapped players

1. Abhinav Mukund
2. Anirudha Srikkanth
3. Shadab Jakati
4. Vas Devadas
5. Yo Mahesh
6. G Vignesh

If this is true, have to agree that these are good signings - Again Chennai Super Kings have surprised me by restricting them self to their catchment areas. 

Brief Profile on each of the players

1. Abhinav Mukund: Signed as an under-19 player in IPL 2008 season, he has matured to a fine opening batsman in all the formats of the game. A run-accumular, his 55+ run average in List A & test matches in the domestic season speaks volume about his talent. 

2. Aniruddha Srikkanth: A son following in his footsteps of his father. Traditionally an opener, he has excelled in the lower middle order in the last stages of IPL - Season 3. 

3. Shadab Jakati: One uncapped player who gets an automatic entry to the playing XI. Even Flemings in his post singled him as the key uncapped player for CSK

4. Vas Devadas: A middle order batsman in the TN line-up, he has earned his reward for winning the BCCI Corporate trophy for India Cements.

5. Yo Mahesh: Impressed all in IPL Season 1 and forgotten by Delhi Daredevils after that. Hope he makes a name for himself in the new team. 

6.  G. Vignesh: Another player who might plug a weakness in CSK Line-up - Lack of an aggressive opener in CSK. Will surely be the opener if Vijay or Hussey are not available. A fine-fielder, he made his name & fame in ICL. 

Even if this news is true, I would still expect more uncapped players to be signed by Chennai Super Kings.

Update: Cricinfo confirms that Jakati, Yo Mahesh, Anirudha & Mukund have signed with Chennai Super Kings. But no mention still about G. Vignesh and Vas Devadas. And no mention also about U-19 players who are signed with the team. 

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