IPL 2021: Chennai Super Kings’ purse ahead of auction reduces from 22.9 crores to 19.9 crores

IPL 2021: Chennai Super Kings’ purse ahead of auction reduces from 22.9 crores to 19.9 crores

Lungi Ngidi celebrates a wicket in IPL 2020

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had an Indian Premier League (IPL) season to forget in 2020 as they finished outside the playoff spots for the first time ever in their history. Even before the season began, they were beset with problems including the pulling out of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh as well as the positive COVID-19 tests in their camp. Once the season began they seemed to put their woes behind them with a win in the first match but it soon went downhill.

The side’s batting unit did not come together as one and failed to chase down totals after taking it deep. Their bowlers did not seem to struggle and yet, left a lot to be desired. With the auction for the 2021 edition of the IPL looming and set to take place on February 18, CSK will look to snap up quality players for cheap and will be out to make a statement that the failure in 2020 was a one-off.

CSK’s trade deal – the reason for reduction in purse

Ahead of the auction, each franchise was required to announce their list of released players. The cost of the released players would then be added to the purse remaining from the previous auction. CSK chose to release a few of their players including Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay, Monu Kumar and the retired Shane Watson. Their purse was thus elevated to Rs. 22.9 crores at the end of the retention window.

After the retention window, the trade window began and in the same, CSK snapped up Rajasthan Royals’ wicket-keeper batsman Robin Uthappa in an all-cash deal. The deal was worth Rs. 3 crores and hence, the same will be deducted from the total purse for the auction which leads to CSK having Rs. 19.9 crores to make buys.

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