IPL 2021 Auction: CSK retains Suresh Raina, decides to part ways with Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay

IPL 2021 Auctions – Chennai Super Kings: As the deadline to submit the list of retained and released players is less than 24 hours away, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has decided to retain Suresh Raina and release Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay for the IPL 2021 season. InsideSport has learnt CSK has sent contract renewal drafts to retained players and both Chawla and Vijay have been omitted from the list. Other than this CSK is yet to handover contracts to Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav. It is reliably learnt that team captain MS Dhoni will take final call on Jadhav today, while a franchise official has confirmed to ANI that Raina would be part of the squad under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

“Raina will definitely be a part of the CSK family. He is an integral member and there was never any doubt on him being retained. It was his personal call to return from UAE and the management was clear that his space needed to be respected. We expect him to fire on all cylinders this time around,” the source told ANI.

Meanwhile, earlier today veteran Chennai Super Kings off-spinner Harbhajan Singh confirmed his exit from three-time Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2021 auction as his contract with the three-time champions concludes.

Taking to Twitter, Harbhajan had written: “Dear Friends, I will not be playing IPL this year due to personal reasons.These are difficult times and I would expect some privacy as I spend time with my family. @ChennaiIPL CSK management has been extremely supportive and I wish them a great IPL Stay safe and Jai Hind (sic).”

“As my contract comes to an end with@ChennaiIPL, playing for this team was a great experience..beautiful memories made &some great friends which I will remember fondly for years to come..Thank you @ChennaiIPL, management, staff and fans for a wonderful 2years.. All the best,” Harbhajan said.

As my contract comes to an end with @ChennaiIPL, playing for this team was a great experience..beautiful memories made &some great friends which I will remember fondly for years to come..Thank you @ChennaiIPL, management, staff and fans for a wonderful 2years.. All the best..🙏

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) January 20, 2021

CSK finished 7th in the IPL 2020 and is likely to be the most active franchise during the IPL Mini Auctions – The IPL 2021 Mini Auction will be their opportunity to make necessary changes in the team. CSK who has just 15 Lac left in their player purse will now have monies in the kitty after releasing Chawla and Vijay.

Piyush Chawla will add 6.75 Cr to the CSK’s player purse and Murali Vijay another 2 Cr. Other than this Harbhajan Singh contract is also not getting renewed. That will further add 2 Cr to the player purse for CSK.

Shane Watson who has already announced his retirement from IPL will add 4Cr to players kitty. Release of these 4 players combine will add 14.75 Cr to the CSK player purse. Other than this CSK is deliberating hard on contract renewals for Kedar Jadhav (7.8Cr). The decision on him will be taken before the end of the day today.

“Jadhav was not in best of form in IPL 2020. He was also struggling with his fitness. CSK will move on from Jadhav in IPL 2021, everyone in the team management feels that it will be prudent to take this hard call and invest in future’, said the source close to CSK management.

CSK – Status of players on the firing line –
1) Kedar Jadhav – 7.8 Cr – Likely to lose his contract
2) Imran Tahir – 1 Cr – Unlikely CSK will re-sign with veteran spinner
3) Piyush Chawla – 6.75 Cr – CSK to release Chawla
4) Harbhajan Singh – 2 Cr – No contract renewal for Harbhajan
5) Murali Vijay – 2 Cr – No contract renewal
6) Dwayne Bravo – 6.4 Cr (Subject to his fitness)
7) Josh Hazlewood 2.0 Cr – (No confirmation on contract renewal for Aussie pacer)
8) Karn Sharma 5 Cr – (May also face axe)

IPL 2021 Auction: CSK to shell out Rs 11 crore to retain Raina

Raina had a 11Cr contract with CSK. According to the IPL norms, if a player has to be retained by the IPL franchise, it has to be done on the same price as it was in the previous year. The franchises can neither reduce the pay – nor increase the salary for any retained player. This means CSK will have to once again shell out 11 crores for the Southpaw. This will be 4 Crores more than what franchise will be paying to India’s no.1 all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Players certain to be retained by CSK – Some of the consistent performers for CSK in IPL 2020 along with captain MS Dhoni (15 Cr) are set to be retained. The list of retained players will include –

1) MS Dhoni (15 Cr)
2) Deepak Chahar
3) Lungi Ngidi (0.50 Cr)
4) Ravindra Jadeja (7Cr)
5) Ruturaj Gaikwad (0.2Cr)
6) Shardul Thakur (2.6 Cr)
7) Sam Curran (5.5 Cr)
8) Narayan Jagadeeshan (0.2)
9) Suresh Raina (11 cr)