Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an IPL franchise which is always very precise in terms of the players that they want to sign and some of the signings that they have made over the years have turned out to be the best signings of the IPL.
However, there are a few players who CSK wanted to sign at one point of time, but they couldn’t secure their services for various reasons. Here are 5 such players –
#1 Jacques Kallis
CSK has always had this special affection towards the experienced players as they believe when the team is under pressure, it’s the experienced players who come to the fore and deliver the goods.
One of the experienced players that CSK wanted to sign in 2014 was the South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis and they had actually bought him in the auction as well, but KKR, the previous franchise of Kallis, used their right to match card to retain Kallis.
#2 Rohit Sharma
When Rohit Sharma was back in the auction in 2011, the CSK skipper MS Dhoni, who was also the Indian captain at that time, wanted to bring Rohit at CSK, but it eventually didn’t happen because a lot of other franchises were after Rohit as well and the right-hander eventually went to Mumbai Indians.
Currently, Rohit and Dhoni are two of the most successful captains in the history of the IPL. It would have been interesting how the IPL had unfolded if two of its most successful captains had played for the same team.
#3 Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf Pathan was another player whom Dhoni had seen from close quarters while he was playing for India and having seen the fact that Yusuf could hit the ball miles and could turn out to be a very successful finisher, Dhoni had identified him as a potential signing for CSK.
But, the franchise lost the battle to KKR in the auction as KKR secured the services of Yusuf at a very high price and he turned out to be a vital part of KKR’s title-winning campaigns in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
#4 Mohammed Shami
When CSK made a comeback to the IPL in 2018 after serving a ban of 2 years, they were looking for a quality domestic Indian fast bowler and they stretched the bidding for Mohammed Shami, but Shami was signed by Kings XI Punjab and CSK had to go for Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar as their options as domestic Indian pacers.
Deepak Chahar has put on decent performances with the ball for CSK in the last couple of IPL seasons.
#5 Saurabh Tiwary
Saurabh Tiwary comes from the same state Dhoni comes from as well and when he showed his T20 prowess for Mumbai Indians for a couple of years, Dhoni wanted him at CSK, but he couldn’t get him because the other franchises were also seeking Tiwary’s services, one of whom was CSK’s south India rivals RCB.
RCB spent more than 7 crore INR to sign Tiwary, but the left-hander couldn’t make a massive impact for the franchise with the bat and was released after a couple of years.
