The Chennai Super Kings had a dismal IPL 2022 season which saw a change in captaincy mid-season – from Ravindra Jadeja to MS Dhoni – and eventually, the 4-time IPL title holders finished 9th in the 10-team tournament.
The IPL 2023 mini-auction is set to take place on December 16. All the franchises have been told by the BCCI to finalize and announce the list of released and retained players by mid-November.
For CSK to bounce back next year in what is likely to be MS Dhoni’s last IPL season, the franchise will have to release some players in order to free up space in their purse to buy better alternatives at the mini-auction.
Here are 3 players that CSK should release ahead of the IPL 2023 auction:
Adam Milne
New Zealand quick Adam Milne has been part of 7 IPL seasons from 2015 to 2022 with three different teams but has featured in only 10 IPL games so far, failing to be fit most of the times and being out of form the other times. Last season, too, Milne, who CSK had brought for his express pace, was injured in the first match of the season itself.
He missed The Hundred tournament and barely managed to sneak in the T20 World Cup. Milne remains one of the most injury-prone bowlers in the world and isn’t really worth the risk CSK would want to take on a fast bowler when they will play half of the matches in spin-friendly Chepauk next year.
Tushar Deshpande
Tushar Deshpande is also a pace who CSK should release. The right-arm medium pacer played two matches in IPL 2022 for CSK and picked up one wicket while leaking 9 runs per over.
In IPL 2021, Tushar Deshpande played for Delhi Capitals and managed only 3 wickets in 5 matches and an economy of over 11. Deshpande hasn’t been up to the mark in the IPL and CSK really shouldn’t bank on him knowing that there are other young pacers out in the auction. They already have a coterie of Indian pacers with Deepak Chahar, Simarjit Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, and KM Asif.
Subhranshu Senapati
Subhranshu Senapati is a top-order batsman who plays for Odisha in domestic cricket. He was picked up by CSK for his base price of 20 lakh, but CSK can release him given his domestic T20 strike rate is an ordinary 119.
CSK are already brimming with top-order options and having another one on the bench won’t help matters. Instead, the Stephen Fleming-led management should release Subhranshu and look for more lower-order batters, an area which CSK struggled with last season.
