IPL 2019: 5 Players CSK could've released ahead of the auction

The Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni made a resounding comeback to the fray of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last season. They won the title for the third time famously and the side did so having most of the players aged above 30 highlighting the importance of experienced players in the shortest format of the game. Even this time around, the franchise have decided to retain most cricketers from their squad.

CSK is the only team to have retained as many as 23 players out of the 26 they had in their set-up for the previous edition. They decided to release Mark Wood, Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma who didn’t have much to offer during their triumphant season. At the moment, the Men in Yellow only have two slots for the Indian players and have exhausted their overseas quota with Rs 8.40 Crore in the purse left.

Effectively, they won’t be bidding on many of the players during the auction. With uncertainty revolving around on many of the retained players including MS Dhoni on a long-term basis, they should’ve released a few of them and looked to build the team for the future.

Here we bring you the list of five players who they could’ve released:

1. Harbhajan Singh

The veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh doesn’t play much cricket these days and prefers playing only in the IPL. It was surprising that the franchise decided to retain him as he couldn’t pick wickets at a regular basis like he used to during the early part of his career. Bhajji is also into commentary and match analysis now and might consider quitting the game after the upcoming season.

Also, with the likes of Mitchell Santner and Karn Sharma already in the squad, he might not play majority of the matches next year. Keeping this in mind, the franchise could’ve let go the offie and invested in some other spinners who will go under the hammer next month. Harbhajan played 13 matches for CSK this year and scalped only seven wickets conceding runs at an economy rate of 8.58.