Defending IPL champions Chennai Super Kings(CSK) today retained 22 players for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League which may be shifted outside India following Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The men in yellow also released three players ahead of the next month’s auction which will take place on 16 December in Goa.
The players released
CSK think tank released English pace man Mark Wood and uncapped Indian players- Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma. Wood featured in just one match for the CSK and he was not picked in remaining matches following his non-impressive run in the lone match. Seth and Sharma didn’t get a game.
Mitchell Santner who got injured before the 2018 was retained by the team and the Kiwi player will be available for the full season in 2019.
CSK also retained England all-rounder David Willey who was picked as a replacement for injured Kedar Jadhav in 2018.
IPL Franchises were required to inform the IPL Governing Council about their retentions by November 15.
Rise from the ashes
CSK returned to play the IPL after serving a ban of two years following involvement of their owner in spot fixing. The team didn’t had a smooth outing as they could just play one home game after which the home games were shifted to Pune from Chennai following Cauvery water crisis in the latter city.
They went onto qualify for the play-offs and pipped Sunrisers Hyderabad in qualifier 1 to reach the finals where they again met the same opponents and won the finals by a convincing margin of 8 wickets.
