Top 4 CSK's smartest picks in recent times
Chennai Super Kings have been the most successful IPL team in the league's history. The fact that they use their auction purse judiciously and give importance to experience over flamboyance, has been the reason for their success.
CSK's squads have always had loads of international players with good T20 experience. They have never bid for players just on the basis of reputation. Instead, they have bid for locally available talent from sources such as TNPL and other domestic tournaments.
CSK's teams have always been balanced which gives them a number of options. Over the years, there have been many players both Indian and International who were smart buys and eventually became the game changers for the franchise.
The team has had its fair share of controversies over the years, but one needs to agree that CSK's team management has some astute brains which does its homework well before the auctions.
On that note, let us have a look at some of the players who turned out to be smart buys for the Chennai based franchise:
#5 Lungi Ngidi - 2018
Lungi Ngidi is an exciting fast-bowling prospect. He has forged a strong bowling combination for South Africa with Kagiso Rabada. Ngidi's exploits in the 2018 Test series against India and Australia got him into the reckoning for an IPL berth.
Ngidi had also played an important part in the T20 series against Sri Lanka in 2017. He had a dream debut where he was adjudged as the player of the match and was one of the highest wicket-takers in the Africa Cup. He is quite hostile and bowls consistently over 145 clicks.
These attributes convinced CSK and they bid for Ngidi and they got him at a price of 50 lakhs. Considering the future potential, Ngidi can become CSK's strike bowler in the future.
Ngidi had a great season for CSK even though he played only 7 matches. He performed admirably well and picked up 11 wickets with a best of 4/10. Also, he gave his runs at an economy of 6 which was very impressive.