IPL 2019: 5 players Chennai Super Kings might release after this season
The Chennai Super Kings fell short of their 4th IPL title by 1 run as the Mumbai Indians held their nerve to beat CSK in a nerve-wracking encounter in Hyderabad.
This season was another success for the ageing CSK side who banked more on experience than on youth. This time however, it was their bowlers who did the job for them more than their batsmen. Their openers and middle order batsmen failed to make the desired impact and a lot of changes can be expected in that department ahead of this season.
Imran Tahir, was brilliant as he picked up 26 wickets from 17 games to win the Purple Cap. Along with Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja, he spun a web around the opposition batsmen.
However, most of the CSK players are slowly getting past their prime and with few of them reaching the twilight of their careers, some players could retire after this season.
Hence CSK's policy of releasing a lesser number of players might not be possible this time around. They may have to indulge more in the auction next season and release quite a lot of players.
On that note, let's take a look at 5 players who CSK could release ahead of next season.
#5 Sam Billings
CSK are a side who don't believe in too much of changes to their squad and retained their entire quota of foreigners, except for Mark Wood ahead of this season. However, most of their overseas players barring few were purely functional and didn't make too much impact, one of them was Sam Billings.
Billings won CSK the game against KKR early last season but since then, he failed to make it to the playing XI on a regular basis. He was dismissed for a duck in the only game he featured in this season.
He is one of those overseas players who doesn't seem to fit in CSK's current scheme of things and is always going to be surplus. Retaining him will only fill the overseas players' quota not allowing CSK to sign a quality international fast bowler or a dashing opener to fill in to the ageing boots of somebody like Shane Watson.