A mix of New and Old, as CSK look to defend the title with a revamped “Dad’s Army”

The Chennai Super Kings have been one of the most successful franchises since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008. The Men in Yellow have always been considerate of what they thrift in during the auction and team-building stages and usually take a conceptual approach while stacking up a squad they can rely on.

The TATA IPL Auction 2022 saw the franchise take a slightly different approach from the other seasons as they took a non-conventional path and did not shy away from spending the big bucks on the players such as Deepak Chahar who was the second most expensive player in the mega auction with a whopping price tag of ₹14 crores.

While the franchise managed to retain most of their core players from their previous seasons, they added a plethora of young players who have the ability to become the new face for the franchise. However, it was not all a fairy tale for the Super Kings as they had to part ways with big names like Faf Du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood, and Suresh Raina who have been a cornerstone for the franchise for their previous seasons.

The Chennai Super Kings went into the auction looking to rebuild their squad for the upcoming years and were somewhat successful in achieving their goals. We have compiled some key points from CSK’s performance in the mega auction. Let's get into the thick and thin of it and see how good the Men in Yellow were at the auction table.

Are the Super Kings finally ready to let go of the past and bank on their new blood?

Walking out of the TATA IPL Auction 2022, the Chennai Super Kings are perhaps the only franchise that managed to retain their core group from the past few seasons, while the team will definitely miss out on the services of Faf Du Plessis and Shardul Thakur, we will have to look at the names that they have managed to resign back to the team.

After securing Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad during the retention phase, the team managed to purchase Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayadu, Robin Uthappa, Mitchel Santner, and a few others who have been already a part of the franchise for the past few seasons. 

While many might complain about the age factor of the players at the Chennai Super Kings camp, it’s something that the franchise has worked around for years now and it has worked wonders for them. 

However, this time around the team did bank on some new names as they spend around ₹10 crores off their purse from some interesting names such as Shivam Dube, Rajwardhan Hangargekar, Prashant Solanki, and Maheesh Theeksana who are young and could be future stars for the franchise.

Dwayne Bravo returns to the Super Kings, but how long can he go for?

Chennai Super Kings stuck to the formula to get back their tried and tested players who have been a cornerstone to their franchise, one of such names was Dwayne Bravo has been one of the most crucial members of the franchise for the last half a decade. 

The Men in Yellow spend ₹4.40 crores to re-acquire the services of DJ Bravo but what we need to understand is the Trinidadian veteran is now 38 years of age and does not have a lot of cricket left in him. While Bravo is someone who plays all across the globe at various leagues, we need to note that his performances have been dwindling with time.

The Chennai Super Kings had the perfect opportunity to purchase a replacement for their star, as they could have acquired Jason Holder or maybe Odeon Smith who are fairly young and can give a lot to the franchise in the longer run.

Deepak Chahar returns to the Chennai Super Kings for ₹14 crores

One of the biggest talking points from the IPL Mega Auction 2022 was the price tag of India’s Deepak Chahar as the medium-pacer became the most expensive Indian pacer in the history of the Indian Premier League with INR 14 crores. Chahar has been one of the most consistent bowlers for the Super Kings for the past four seasons and has delivered on most occasions.

Playing for the Men in Yellow, Chahar has been lethal in the power play with the new ball and has picked up those early wickets for his team in most of his outings for the Super Kings. The Indian medium-pacer has picked up 59 wickets to his name in his 63 appearances for his franchise with an economy rate of 7.80

However, Chahar is someone who completes most of his overs in the power play and the middle half of the game, going all out on the bowler left the Super Kings out of the race to purchase a bowler who can give them wickets in the death overs.

The end of an era, “Chinna Thala” Suresh Raina snubbed by the Chennai Super Kings

Mr IPL Suresh Raina has been the highest run-scorer for the Chennai Super Kings for the past decade. Affectionately nicknamed “Chinna Thala” by the Chennai fans, Raina has scored 4687 runs for the franchise in his 175 outings. He has been the most consistent player for the team since their early days.

However, the franchise decided to part with the player in the IPL Mega Auction 2022 as Raina went unsold during the proceedings. In the lateral half of the auction, the Super Kings had around ₹3.20 crores left in their purse and had a slot for one more player left in their ranks. Fans were holding their breath as everyone expected the Super Kings to buy the player in the accelerated half of the auction.

But, it came as a big surprise to many when the Super Kings used ₹20 lakhs to sign K Bhagat Verma as the final member of their squad. Fans took to various social media platforms to debate on the snub. However, we need to think about this from the franchise’s perspective as they already have found the replacement for Suresh Raina at the number 1 slot with Moeen Ali, who despite not being a part of the English national side has been playing in different parts of the world over Raina who lacks match exposure in the last few years.