Defending champions Chennai Super Kings have released three players and retained 22 ahead of next month’s IPL auction.
The Yellow Army let go of English fast bowler Mark Wood, along with uncapped Indian players Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma. Wood played only one match last season, while Seth and Sharma were on the bench throughout the competition.
All franchises have time till 15 November to chop and change their squads, and submit their final lists to the IPL Governing Council ahead of the 2019 player auction.
The 22-member squad retained by CSK includes both Kedar Jadhav – who was injured during the team’s opening match last season – and England all-rounder David Willey, who was recruited as Jadhav’s replacement.
Having released the three players, CSK will go into the auction with an extra Rs 1.90 crore in its kitty. Mark Wood had cost the team Rs 1.50 crore, and Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma Rs 20 lakh each.
MS Dhoni’s team now have more than Rs 10 crore to spend this year – last season, CSK saved Rs 6.5 crore from its budget, plus the Rs 2 crore every IPL team gets each year and the additional Rs 1.9 crore CSK have made by releasing the three players.
The defending champions made a comeback to the IPL in 2018 after serving a two-year ban over corruption charges. It was a fairytale comeback by Dhoni’s ‘Dad’s Army’ after they won the title by beating Hyderabad in the final.
CSK retained Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja from its earlier squad before the IPL 2018 auction. They brought back Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis through the Right to Match cards.
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