IPL: 5 auction blunders committed by Chennai Super Kings over the years
Great cricket teams are recognized by their consistency in dominating tournaments over a period of time.
The advent of T20 made the world hesitant to judge teams based on the same parameter, as the nature of the format was so volatile. But if there is one team that has been able to achieve that consistency, it is Chennai Super Kings.
They have been the one of the most successful teams in domestic T20 history, winning three Indian Premier League titles and two Champions League T20 trophies. The core of the team and the coaching management have been the same all these years, and that has led to their success.
Moreover, they have been very smart in devising their auction strategies, and have built a strong team that has qualified for the play-offs every year.
But there have been a few instances when even their calculations have gone miserably wrong and have cost them titles. With the auction for the 2019 season coming up in a fortnight, let us look at some of the auction blunders made by CSK over the years.
#1 2009 – Andrew Flintoff – 1.55m USD
Probably the best all-rounder in his time, Andrew Flintoff was not allowed to play in the inaugural edition of IPL as the England Cricket Board were reluctant to send their players. But the impact and popularity of the first season were so great that the ECB gave NOCs to all their big names for the second season.
Going into the 2009 auction, CSK had the biggest purse of 2 million US dollars and looked like favorites to grab the burly Lancashire man. They made him the highest earning player in IPL by bidding at a price of $1.55m.
But the buy didn’t pay any dividends as Flintoff was taken to the cleaners in the three matches he played, leaking runs at an economy rate of 9.54. With the bat he could muster only 66 runs at a strike-rate of 116.98 before injury ruled him out of that season.
There is a conspiracy theory that the auction was rigged to help CSK’s bid, as suggested by a leak of email conversations between Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan. But looking back, CSK won’t be happy at all with this deal.