IPL 2019: 3 areas that CSK need to address during the IPL auction
The searing excitement of IPL is getting to the headlines as we are not far away from the trade/release deadlines and the auction dates. If reports are meant to be true, the 2019 IPL Auction will take place in mid-December with Jaipur being the reported venue.
The 2019 IPL auction will be a sort of minor restructuring phase for the respective franchises ahead of the upcoming edition of IPL. The trades/releases taking place will also play a good part in the teams' strategies at the 2019 IPL auction.
A purse of INR 3 Crore, along with the unspent amount from the previous IPL auction, will be available to all the eight franchises. Thus, each piece would have to spend their amounts judiciously while restructuring their squad in the 2019 IPL auction.
Chennai Super Kings made a fairy-tale comeback to the extravagant league as they clinched the IPL title for the record third time in the history of the league while equaling their rival Mumbai Indians' tally.
CSK had a reasonably decent squad with minimal loopholes. Chennai rarely seemed to commit mistakes in their tourney of IPL 2018. However, there remain a few bottlenecks that CSK would look to remove in the 2019 IPL auction. Although these bottlenecks aren't expected to cause much damage to Chennai, the franchise will unquestionably look to keep them updated while making them much more accountable against these problems.
Thus, in this feature, we will have a look at three areas that Chennai Super Kings will need to address in the 2019 IPL auction.
#1 Pace department
One department that looked in splits for CSK in IPL 2018 was their pace department, especially the Indian pace contingent. Unquestionably, with the likes of Lungi Ngidi of Deepak Chahar, Chennai fared decently in their bowling department. However, on quite a few occasions, the absence of experienced fast bowlers put CSK slightly on a weaker side in the bowling department.
Nonetheless, with Dhoni's astute use of his bowlers, CSK managed to reel through that problem. Moreover, CSK also handed us a new sensation in the name of Deepak Chahar.
Although for the time being Chennai's bowling attack looks good to go, there remain a few block holes that CSK would hope to fill in the upcoming auction. Unquestionably, while going into the 2019 IPL auction, Chennai would be adding one or two experienced pace bowlers in their squad.
The addition could be of a 1+1 sort: one experienced Indian fast bowler and one experienced overseas fast bowler. This sort of combination will make CSK much more accountable in their bowling department while making them much more robust in foreign states (if ever IPL shifts to South Africa). Another combination could be of 2 + 0 as well or say 1 + 0: one or two experienced Indian fast bowlers - keeping Lungi Ngidi in mind.
Thus, the pace department will surely be one of the areas that CSK will need to address in the upcoming IPL auction.