The IPL 2023 is most certainly going to be the last IPL season for MS Dhoni. The 4-time champions would want to give their greatest stalwart a happy farewell with another trophy.
For that CSK should build up a better squad at the upcoming IPL 2023 mini-auction after their debacle of IPL 2022, where they finished 9th with only 4 wins and the franchise has been surrounded by controversy involving Ravindra Jadeja, who was sacked as the captain mid-season.
Nonetheless, CSK and all the franchises will have to finalize their list of retained and released players by mid-November.
In this article, we look at 3 players who didn’t perform well in IPL 2022 but CSK should definitely retain:
Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja is clearly upset with CSK switching the captaincy back to Dhoni in between the season after Jadeja had been given the captaincy by Dhoni prior to the IPL 2022 tournament. Jadeja had one of his worst IPL seasons since joining CSK – he scored 116 runs in 10 innings at a lowly strike rate of 118 with a best of just 26* and with the ball snapped only 5 wickets – before his tournament ended due to an injury.
Since then, Jadeja hasn’t reportedly been in contact with the franchise, deleted most of his Instagram photos involving CSK, and a couple of other franchises have asked for a trade of the all-rounder.
But, I feel whatever the issues CSK and Jadeja have should be sorted out and the franchise should do its best to retain one of the best all-rounders in the world. Jadeja is also one of the most experienced members of the CSK team along with Dhoni and Bravo. Any franchise would spend be willing to splurge big money for Jadeja, which is a testament to his quality and the all-around skillset he brings in. He’s one player CSK won’t be able to fill the void if Jadeja leaves.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan had a forgettable IPL 2022 season with CSK as he managed to pick only 2 wickets in 4 matches and leaked at more than 10 runs an over. While many fans would want CSK to release Jordan, however, if you look at CSK’s current squad, the only proper designated death bowler is the 39-year-old Dwayne Bravo, who also has been injury prone in the past few years and missed 4 games last season.
Another reason to keep Jordan is that there aren’t many fast bowlers in the world who have the experience of Jordan – 293 T20 matches across the world he’s played – while bowling in the death overs. England, despite his expensive numbers, has kept faith in Jordan and taken him to the T20 WC. And remember, he got to play in only 4 games last season. None of the CSK’s Indian pacers is as good and experienced as Jordan in the death overs, an area where they lacked a bit of bite last season.
N Jagadeesan
N Jagadeesan is one of the few Indian batters who hasn’t been able to crack the code as CSK in the past few years. The right-hander featured in 2 games and scored 40 runs in IPL 2022.
Also, what can’t be ignored, is that his chances have been few and far between: he’s played in 7 matches across the last 5 seasons at CSK and has been shuffled up and down the order. He hit a fluent 39* while batting at number 4, a place that has been vacated by the retirement of Robin Uthappa. In T20 cricket, Jagadeesan has a good average of 32 and CSK should show more faith in the youngster.
