CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings is one of the few IPL teams that does not do too much of chopping and changing. This is one of the reasons why the side led by MS Dhoni is one of the most consistent teams in the competition. The team owners have faith in the players they buy. Having retained its core team, CSK went to the auction on Thursday with a purse of just Rs 14.60 crore. So one did not expect them to be aggressive at the auction.
After Albie Morkel, they were looking for a similar all-rounder who could bowl and score runs in crunch situations. Thus England’s Sam Curran was bought for Rs 5.5 crore. The team has many spinners in Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner. They also have Karn Sharma. One did not expect them to go for another.
To everyone’s surprise, CSK bid fiercely for Piyush Chawla and got him for Rs 6.75 crore. “Delighted and happy to be picked by CSK. We know how great a team it is. It feels nice to be playing for one of the most successful teams in the IPL,” said Chawla.
Dhoni has been CSK’s fulcrum and taken them to dizzy heights with his astute captaincy. He is known to handle players deftly and bring the best out of them. “It will be great playing under Mahi bhai once again. He is a great leader, one who reads situations brilliantly and brings the best out of his teammates. Looking forward to playing under him. I have fond memories of playing under him for India,’’ said Chawla, who was part of the World Cup-winning team in 2011.
The leg-spinner is not new to the city, as he has been playing in the TNCA Senior Division League for a long time for Jolly Rovers. “I know the conditions and wickets pretty well. It will come in handy when I get an opportunity to play,’’ said the former KKR player.
Four from TNPL
Four uncapped players from TNPL were brought in the IPL auctions. While Varun Chakravarthy and M Siddarth was bagged by KKR. Sai Kishore went to CSK and Sanjay Yadav to SRH.