IPL 2022 Auction: 3 buys CSK will benefit from
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stuck to their tried and tested formula of retaining a strong core and adding a handful of new faces at the IPL 2022 Auction.
While the likes of MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar will continue to be at the heart of the defending champions, the new additions could be their X factor for the upcoming season and the seedlings for a future core group.
Below, we look at three such signings that could benefit the four-time winners in either the short or long term.
#1 Rajvardhan Hangargekar
One of the most promising talents from India's triumphant 2022 U-19 World Cup campaign, Rajvardhan Hangargekar is the youngest member of CSK's 2022 team.
In the words of his own teammates, Hangargekar is among the biggest strikers in India's current youth lot. He bats lower down the order with just one motive - clear the front leg and hit it as hard and long as he can. In the World Cup, he batted in three innings and struck at 185.71 - the second-best in the tournament.
And that's not even his primary skill. He's a fearsome new-ball bowler with an ability to consistently click 140 kmph, with bouncers, yorkers and out-swingers all in his arsenal at the age of 19. He consistently set the platform for the spinners with his sharp and thrifty bowling at the World Cup, while also picking up five wickets.
With a glut of all-rounders available at CSK, Hangargekar might not get much game time this year. But he'll get the chance to be groomed by the best in the business. He has always been a fan of the franchise and with time, could be groomed as the face of the Yellow Army along with Gaikwad and others.
#2 Adam Milne
CSK needed a replacement for Josh Hazlewood at the auction. In 29-year-old Adam Milne, they got a quicker alternative at almost one-fourth the price (₹1.9 crore).
Having spent most of his career either struggling with injuries or in the shadow of Trent Boult earlier and now Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson in the New Zealand set-up, Milne has never really got a chance to be a world-beater.
He's bowled in 31 T20Is and has brilliant stats - 32 wickets at an average of 26.69 and a strike rate of 20.41.
He bowls the hard length consistently at 145 kmph and is adept at bowling at any stage of the game. Hazlewood in 2021 and Lungi Ngidi earlier were CSK's fast-bowling enforcers, complementing the guile of Deepak Chahar. Milne can do the same with a better pace, a bigger performance appetite and for a longer period.
#3 Maheesh Theekshana
What a start for Sri Lanka!
Maheesh Theekshana with the wicket of Ben McDermott from the first ball of the chase... https://t.co/GVOQz8GErF
While you can hardly find any limitations in a side like CSK that has made it its USP to prove the doubters wrong, one area where they've been behind their peers is the mystery spin section. It hasn't impacted their performances much but it's a luxury they have never attempted to possess.
By bringing Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana to the squad at a bargain of ₹70 lakh, they have plucked that hole as well. The 21-year-old right-arm bowler has a bevy of variations in his bag - the most potent being his off-break, googly and the carrom ball - all delivered from the same simple action.
Touted as the new Ajantha Mendis, Theekshana was Sri Lanka's second-highest wicket-taker in the 2021 T20 World Cup, with eight wickets from seven games at an average of 17.12 and an economy rate of 5.48. He was also the joint-highest wicket-taker in the 2021 Lanka Premier League with 16 victims from 10 games at 16.75.
Even in Sri Lanka's ongoing five-match T20I series against Australia, Aaron Finch and co. have found it hard to read him, scalping four wickets from three games.
CSK will likely stick with Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner as their frontline spinners but against sides less adept to spin, or on some particularly dry pitches, they can always unleash Theekshana as an aggressive option. And who knows, in the coming years, he might be the leader of their spin attack at Chepauk.