The four-time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings, haven’t quite had the IPL they had wished for after the mega auction. CSK's failure to make the playoffs in the 2022 IPL was only the second time in the league's 15-year history.After being tagged as the "Dad’s army" in 2018, CSK made a miraculous comeback in 2018, by winning the title with an average of players being above 30. However, the whistle-podu army had a good mix of young and senior players in the 2022 season, but still failed to deliver the results.
As CSK have already been eliminated from the ongoing Tata IPL 2022, there would be a lot of players who would be tried in the final few games to test the waters of these players and how they can be utilised in the coming years. In an attempt to add the 5th title to their collection, CSK might just want to bring in some new energy to their squad. While CSK will give opportunities to young players, the Super Kings will also close the curtains on a few ageing players who might not fit into their combination in the next season.
Here are the top three players that CSK might release ahead of the 2023 season:
3 Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan, England's T20 specialist, was bought by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping 3.60 crores. Jordan has had a nightmare of an IPL, where he has picked just two wickets in four innings. Jordan he has given away runs at an economy of more than 8.9 runs per innings for Chennai. The worst innings for the English all-rounder came when he was dismissed all over the park by the Gujarat batters in a run chase. Then, Jordan gave away 25 runs in the 18th over when the game was pretty much in Chennai’s pocket and cost them the game with an expensive over.
Jordan was benched after the game against Gujarat and never really made a comeback into CSK’s playing eleven. With Dwyane Bravo almost running towards the end of his career, Chennai was looking for a bowling all-rounder to replace DJ Bravo. CSK's Jordan was roped in to be the like-for-like replacement for Bravo but has been nothing short of a blunder for CSK. In fact, CSK also purchased Dwaine Pretorious, who has rather come close to being a replacement for Bravo with his slower balls and pinch hitting in the end.
CSK would like to make way for a better bowling all-rounder in place of the ageing Chris Jordan in the next season too. In the 2022 season, when CSK has been eliminated and the middle order and the bowling are looking a bit fragile, a hard-hitting all-rounder should be the ideal choice for CSK. With the likes of Ben Stokes expected to be a part of the 2022 auction, Stokesy could be the perfect replacement for the four-time IPL champions. As Jordan didn’t get even a single game ever since he was dropped, it shows the lack of trust of CSK management over Jordan. It would be interesting to see how Jordan performs on the international circuit, which will decide his fortunes for the 2023 IPL.
2 Tushar Deshpande
Tushar Deshpande was brought by the Chennai Super Kings for his base price of 20 Lakhs. Tushar was seen as a backup to the injured Deepak Chahar deliver the goods in his absence. Tushar played two opening games for CSK and managed to pick just one wicket while leaking runs at more than 10 runs per over.
Chennai Super Kings have benched Tushar ever since and has not got a single game in the rest of the IPL with CSK. In the meanwhile, CSK gave opportunities to Simarjeet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary. They both have seemed to impress the CSK Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with wicket taking match winning performances. More than the performances, MSD was impressed with the maturity and courage of both the bowlers.
As the man who makes all the moves for Chennai is already overwhelmed with Simarjeet’s and Mukes’s performance and with Deepak Chahar and Adam Milne coming back next year after it would be difficult for someone like a Tushar Desphande to make a comeback into the eleven for CSK. Hoping that next year’s IPL will be back to home and away format, 50% of CSK’s matches will be played at the Chepauk. CSK with rather try to include a spinner or two in their lineup instead of an additional backup seamer. As the seam and swing bowling department both looking secured with two backups, CSK might actually release Tushar Desphande.
1 Robin Utthappa :
The walking assassin, Robin Utthappa, was the surprise package for CSK in the 2021 season. Robin didn’t get even a single opportunity to wear the yellow jersey till the 13th match of the 2021 season. The mastermind, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, decided to put him in the playing eleven in place of an injured or rather struggling Suresh Raina. Though, Robbie didn’t have a great IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings, the 19-run innings was of substance, which earned him a spot in the playing eleven.
Then, Robbie repaid the trust shown by the management with a match-winning 63 off just 44 deliveries in the qualifier 1 against the same opponents, Delhi Capitals, and took Chennai to the IPL 2021 Finals. We were seeing the Utthappa of the old times, who would just walk down the wicket to fast bowlers and whack them over mid-on and mid-off for fun. Robin’s role was a short and sweet one in 2021 for CSK, where he played four innings and scored 115 runs in the final stages of the tournament. Robin also scored a quick-fire 15-ball 31 in the finals against his former teammates KKR, helping CSK to an above-par total.
Being the franchise CSK has been, who just doesn’t leave out the players who have won matches for them, and these little gem match-winning innings of Robin, ensured him a place in the CSK setup in 2022 as well. Robin started the 2022 season in some fashion, scoring two fifties in the first five games, but went downhill like a rolling ball. As Robin had scores of 3, 30, 1, 1, 0 and 1 in the last five innings, he featured for CSK. Robin, being the player, he is, is suitable as either an opener or a one-down batter. Currently, with Ruturaj and Conway firing, and Moen being the batting all-rounder at number three, the CSK setup has both the opening slot and the one-down slot filled with potentially younger players who can play for another three to four years. The management would rather look to groom the younger bunch than to again rely on players who might miss out sooner than later. With such below-par scores and age also not being on Uthappa’s side, CSK were left with no other option but to drop Robbie in the ongoing season and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they released the 36-year-old to make way for new faces in the squad next year.