IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings likely to retain Dhoni, Raina, and Jadeja

The hype around the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is already on the rise. With two strong outfits – Chennai Super Kings and Royals – making a comeback to the roster, the tournament promises to be a big affair. Recently, the IPL Governing Council and the BCCI had announced the player retention policies for the mega IPL 2018 auctions.

As per the rules, any team can retain a maximum of 5 players. This includes their Right to Match card options. Interestingly, for Chennai Super Kings and Royals will have a pool of players to pick from the squads that had played for them in the 2015 edition of the tournament. Now, as per the reports in NDTV, CSK have already determined which three players they wish to retain.

As per the reports, an official who is quite aware about the strategy of the Chennai Super Kings, mentioned that the franchise is all set to retain MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ravindra Jadeja. This comes as a big revelation ahead of the mega auctions.

“We have not yet submitted our retention list but it goes without saying that Dhoni and Raina are all but retained. The third retention in all likelihood will be Ravindra Jadeja,” an IPL official, who is aware about CSK’s team strategy quoted.

What about R Ashwin?

If CSK opts to retain the trio of Dhoni, Raina, and Jadeja, it will be interesting to see what happens to Ravichandran Ashwin. R Ashwin has been an integral part of the CSK franchise for the first 8 editions of the tournament. However, the fact that he has not played any T20 game in the last year or so, make his chances of retention go bleak.

Last year, he was with the Rising Pune Supergiant franchise but had bowed out of the tournament even before the season had commenced.