'Aap itna paisa leke jaate ho' - Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh criticise CSK's IPL 2025 mega auction strategy

The season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has gone from bad to worse as they still remain at the bottom of the table with only two wins and six losses. This could also mean that their chances of making it to the playoffs has potentially ended as well.

The last game was another disappointing outing for the Yellow Brigade, losing to one of their biggest rivals, in Mumbai Indians, at the Wankhede Stadium. There is a lot of criticism being directed towards the MS Dhoni-led side, even from former CSK players like Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, who expressed their disappointment during commentary. Raina said that the auction did not go well for the team. He added that they did not even bid for certain star players

“Mujhe lagta hai kahin na kahin inse (CSK) auction acha nahi hua hai. Auction main itne talented players, itne youngsters the. Kaha hai woh players? Aap itna paisa leke jaate ho auction ke liye. Aapne Rishabh Pant ko chhoda, Shreyas Iyer ko chhoda, KL Rahul ko chhoda. CSK team ko kabhi aise nahi dekha struggle karte hue (I feel somewhere they did not have a good auction. There were so many talented players and youngsters in the auction. Where are they? You went to the auction with so much money but left Pant, Iyer, and Rahul. I have never seen CSK struggle like this),” Raina said while commentating during the game as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Talent scouts should be questioned: Harbhajan Singh

While Raina blamed the auction, former legendary off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also blamed the scouting group of the CSK setup. Harbhajan said that the people behind the selections should be questioned and mentioned that there does not seem to be a game-changing young player within the setup.

“CSK bohot badi team rahi hai. Jab yeh auction main gaye, inke paas woh option tha unn players ko le sakte the. Yuvaon main bhi waise yuva dikhe nahi jo game-changing wali innings khel sake. Thoda sa jo inke talent pool ko jo hunt karte hai unko bhi bitha ke puchhna chahiye ki bhai kya apne hume information di thi jiske chalte humne yeh logon ko select kiya tha (CSK is a big team. They had the options to pick those players in the auction. Even among the youngsters, they did not turn out to be game-changers. The talent scouts should be questioned about their preferences, because the selection was based on that),” Harbhajan said.