IPL 2021 Auction: The IPL Auctions are as lucrative and enticing to the fans as much as the game itself. The auction of 2021 is just a few days away, and franchises will have their permutations and combinations in place by now.
With all the buzz of the upcoming auctions looming around us, we roll-out the 5 most anticipated players who expected to be picked up by Chennai Super Kings on February 18th in Chennai and whose auction results will be most awaited.
1) Steve Smith – 2 Cr Base Price
Australian Batsman and former Captain Steve Smith was arguably one of the weakest links in the CSK armor last year. He had previously excelled under MS Dhoni’s leadership when the pair were at Rising Pune Supergiant. A reunion with Dhoni could be just what Smith’s IPL career needs as the former Rajasthan Royals skipper looked ordinary in 2020.
2) Dawid Malan – 1.5 Cr Base Price
England’s left-handed batsman, Dawid Malan, will surely be under the radar of many franchises going into the auction. He has performed with the bat in the past few years, and to top it up, he is also the top ranked ICC T20I batsman. He has never played IPL before.
3) Glenn Maxwell – 2 Cr Base Price
Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was released by KXIP ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, and he will be one of the top names to look after in the auction. CSK expected to engage in a bidding war for the Australian all-rounder.
Maxwell can solve the problem of a finisher for CSK as they struggled to chase down targets last season because of the absence of a hard-hitter who could finish off games.
4) Umesh Yadav – 1 Cr Base Price
Umesh Yadav was released by RCB ahead of the IPL 2021 Auction. CSK has plenty of options from overseas fast bowling to choose from the squad. Still, they do not have many Indian pacers to choose from. Though Fleming will be looking forward to adding options to his bowling lineup, and this would be a better option as he is an experienced Indian pacer.
5) M Siddharth – 20.00 Lac Base Price
M Siddharth, the 22-year old Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner, had a great run to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, taking two 4 wicket hauls, including one in the final. The Chepauk Stadium favors slower bowlers, which is why CSK always pick slower bowlers.
This year they release Piyush Chawla, and their side would look to use another spinning option and fill that gap in the squad with a local boy.