Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa has made a big a made prediction for his former team Chennai Super Kings ahead of the Indian Premier League 2023 mini-action. The IPL 2023 mini-auction is going to take place on December 23, Friday in Kochi. All eyes are on the franchises as they have started planning in order to bolster the squad ahead of the new season.
Chennai Super Kings will enter the mini-auction with a purse value of INR 20.45 crore and they have already appointed Dwayne Bravo as the bowling coach after the retentions. The four-time IPL champs endured a disastrous season in the previous season and now in the upcoming 2023 edition of the IPL, all eyes will be on the names that CSK will go after in the auction.
Robin Uthappa Made A Big Prediction For CSK
Robin Uthappa, who played for the Chennai Super Kings in the previous edition of the Indian Premier League, turned out to be his last season. His retirement has now opened up a slot for an Indian batter. Uthappa noted the areas they will look to fill. He said that CSK will need an all-rounder to replace Bravo. He further mentioned that Sam Curran being an ideal choice to replace Dwayne Bravo while going for the Karnataka lad Manish Pandey as the Indian middle-order option.
Speaking at the JioCinema’s IPL Player Auction Expert Panel, Uthappa said: “CSK hey need an all-rounder to replace Dwayne Bravo and they need a solid India middle-order batter as a backup for the players that they already have. In that, I think they will look for the likes of Sam Curran because he has already played for CSK in the past, he’s done well for them and has contributed to their success so they will definitely try and go for him,”
He added: “The second one would be an Indian batter in the middle order and the ones that are available in this auction seem to be like Manish Pandey, he has done exceptionally well in the IPL and is also someone who is experienced and would really enjoy playing in the CSK culture. These are the two players they will go for but in case they don’t get them – I am certain there are other options that they already have,”
CSK’s list of retained players:
MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dubey Mahesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Matheesha Pathirana, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma
