Anil Kumble believes it will be tough for CSK to buy R Ashwin

The mega auctions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are fast approaching and the franchises are looking forward to buy some key players during the event. As many as 578 cricketers will go under the hammer on January 27 and 28. Recently, MS Dhoni opined that Chennai Super Kings are keen to buy their premier spinner R Ashwin during the auction. But the former India coach Anil Kumble believes that the franchise may not be able to buy him.

CSK retained Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja in the player retention event earlier this month. However, they are hoping to reunite their old squad to some extent in the auction. Having retained three Indian players, they cannot use a Right to Match (RTM) card for Ashwin now and will have to get him by bidding along with the other franchises. They would also have to take care of the available purse with them and cautiously build the team.

Ashwin is a ‘captain material’

Anil Kumble reckons that Ashwin is a captain material and the teams which haven’t declared the name of their skippers yet will go aggressively for him. “He is a captain material. There are franchises which needed a captain. He is an Indian marquee player. Yes, Chennai would want their local hero to be part of Super Kings, But you never you, he might end up playing for them,” he said while speaking on the analysis show on Star Sports ‘Game Plan – The Marquee List.

The legendary leg-spinner also went on to add that CSK wouldn’t go beyond Rs 4 crore or 5 crore for him and believed that Ashwin will go for a much higher amount. “Chennai would be looking at him [Ashwin] as a spinner to backup Ravindra Jadeja, whom they have already retained. The will have to look at Ashwin as the second spinner. If that is the case, I don’t see them going beyond Rs 4 crore or Rs 5 crore. And I don’t think you will get someone like Ashwin for that amount,” Kumble added.

Ashwin has set his base price at Rs. 2 crore which is the highest price band for the auction. He is also part of the 16 marquee players according to the auction pool announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday.

Follow CricTracker for more news and updates on cricket around the world!