The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction is set to take place in Kochi on Friday (December 23). Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings, led by MS Dhoni, will need to rebuild and regroup after finishing in 9th place in IPL 2022 and failing to qualify for the Playoffs stage. With all-rounder Dwayne Bravo retiring from IPL, there is a big hole that the Chennai side need to fill.


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CSK have Rs 20.45 crore in their kitty left for the IPL 2023 auction after the retirement of Bravo and Robin Uthappa. The former CSK batter will now be part of JioCinema expert panel for the upcoming IPL 2023 auction. England all-rounder Sam Curran, who turned out for CSK in IPL 2021 will be high on MS Dhoni’s list for the IPL 2023 auction.


Uthappa shared his thoughts on the list of players Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings would look at, during the IPL 2023 Player Auction on December 23.


“KKR would be looking for three players in this auction – one would be an Indian backup wicketkeeper for (Rahmanullah) Gurbaz. In case, they want flexibility in playing both Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson, Gurbaz is the one who would have to sit out as they are not going to drop Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Second player is a backup to Andre Russell. IPL is going back to its original format. So, it is not going to be just one or two venues,” Uthappa said in a release ahead of the auction.



“There will be a lot of travel. KKR is one such team that travels the most. Kolkata is really far away and they travel at least 2-3 thousand kms more than all other teams. So, keeping those things in mind, you will have to have a backup just in case, Russell pulls up or he has not recovered due to back-to-back matches. Third would be an Indian fast bowler who would be a back up to Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav. They have a couple of youngsters in their group, but they would like to get somebody like Jaydev Unadkat,” Uthappa added.


Uthappa also spoke about Chennai Super Kings’ expected buys. “CSK hey need an all-rounder to replace Dwayne Bravo and they need a solid India middle-order batter as a backup for the players that they already have. In that, I think they will look for the likes of Sam Curran because he has already played for CSK in the past, he’s done well for them and has contributed to their success so they will definitely try and go for him.


“The second one would be an Indian batter in the middle order and the ones that are available in this auction seem to be like Manish Pandey, he has done exceptionally well in the IPL and is also someone who is experienced and would really enjoy playing in the CSK culture. These are the two players they will go for but in case they don’t get them – I am certain there are other options that they already have,” he added.


CSK’s retained squad: MS Dhoni (captain), Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana


Purse left: Rs. 20.45