Ahead of the big IPL player auctions, Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan has admitted that finding quality Indian players will be difficult. Five-time champions CSK are eyeing a big-name Indian player who could be a franchise player in the future and with Rishabh Pant up for auction, there are strong indications that the CSK franchise might buy Pant. .
CSK, which retained five players, including MS Dhoni as a non-player, has only Rs 55 crore in the auction fund. Speaking to former India and CSK player Ambati Rayudu on Provoke TV, Viswanthan said, “We had discussions with Ruturaj, captain, MS (Dhoni) and coach Stephen Fleming before we decided to keep them. It was clear to us that the players who have helped the team to grow and stabilize over the years are the most important for the CSK team to move forward.”
CSK does not have any big name Indian players in their batting line up and the franchise is dependent on their overseas purchases and young players. With Rs 55 crore left in the auction, Viswanathan indicated that the trend could continue and acquiring Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul would be more than their spending limits.
“It was very easy to decide on their retention – Gaikwad, Jaddu, MS, Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana. But we knew that if we kept these players we would have a small fund that could go into the auction. We knew we couldn’t compete with other teams when it came to top Indian players. I mean we are still going to try, but I don’t see that we will be able to get them at auction,” he added.