Can CSK escape their curse of an underwhelming season the year after a winning campaign?
After 2019, they won only 6 out of their 14 in 2020. They roared back in 2021 by winning it for the 4th time in their franchise history. But, in 2022, they won 4 out of 14 and ended 9th. Yet again, they came back with a nail-biting win over GT in the finals. Can they escape the curse this time?
They have made some key buys at the auction this year with acquiring Daryl Mitchell for a whopping 14 crores and the young superstar from New Zealand's world cup campaign, Rachin Ravindra for a measly 1.8 crores. They also bolstered their Indian pace bowling unit by buying Shardul Thakur, who was a key part of CSK's 2018 and 2021 title campaign and is now back with them, bought uncapped Sameer Rizvi, who has never played in the big stage before, for a massive 8.4 crores to replace Ambati Rayudu.
CSK Squad for 2024 -
MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avinash Rao Aravelly.
Expected XII-
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Rachin Ravindra
Ajinkya Rahane
Daryl Mitchell
Shivam Dube
Ravindra Jadeja
Sameer Rizvi
MS Dhoni
Shardul Thakur
Deepak Chahar
Maheesh Theekshana
Impact Player - Matheesha Pathirana
Key Players to Watch -
With Devon Conway out with an injury till May, Rachin Ravindra would like to prove that his success in the World Cup can be translated into franchise cricket in the big stage.
Biggest Weakness -
Questions over the form of Ajinkya Rahane and who will play at No.3 if Rahane cannot fire.
Biggest Strength -
Batting depth has never really been a problem for CSK and yet again it is not and is in fact one of their biggest strengths as they have batters who can bat all the way down to No.10.
CSK will be hoping to break their curse and only time will tell if they do.
More on other teams to follow......
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