IPL: CSK fans demand retention of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina amid reports of new rules for mega auction

CSK players Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni (Source: Twitter)

The 14th edition Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) will resume in UAE on September 15 after it was suspended due to the second wave of COVID-19 in India. While fans are super excited for the second half of IPL 2021, it’s the 15th edition of the cash-rich league (IPL 2022) which is already making headlines as it is set to have 10 teams. Moreover, BCCI is already preparing for the mega auction to be conducted in December later this year.

As per Times of India, BCCI will allow each franchise to retain a maximum of only four players in the mega auction, which will witness not eight but ten teams competing against each other to build the best possible squad for the next IPL season. The team management can retain either three Indian players and one overseas or two Indian and two overseas each. The franchises will enter the auction only after deduction of the salaries of the retained players from the purse available.

Meanwhile, the report of a new rule for mega auction has left Chennai Super Kings (CSK) management scratching their head as the franchise is in desperate need of a complete overhaul courtesy of the fact that most of their players on the wrong side of their 30s and are likely to call it quits either in one or two years.

However, before picking the right players in the auction, CSK’s management will have to make a difficult decision on which players to retain and which players to let go, especially after the poor IPL season in 2020, when CSK failed to qualify to the playoffs for the first time in history of the tournament.

Meanwhile, the fans have already started a war on social media over the players they want to be retained and not-so-surprisingly, the names of CSK veterans MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina made it to the retention list of almost every fan.

Here are some tweets by fans:

Can't imagine CSK without Raina and Dhoni. The two pillars of CSK  pic.twitter.com/AY8ZdR9zPQ — Maze (@mazeftw7) July 5, 2021

Tension has increased for the franchisee, especially for #CSK that Which players retained & which player should be released? According to me, CSK will retain #Dhoni, #Raina, #Jadeja SamCurran & Will buy to Faf.
Again.#IPL2022 #IPL #Auction #whistlepodu #yellove #cricket #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/MkVkCqC5TQ — Nikita Malviya (@NKMalviya19) July 5, 2021

Sam Jaddu and Raina should be our top priority and if Dhoni plays then Dhoni otherwise Rutu — Shalvi Singh Dhoni (@Shalvi_Rajput07) July 5, 2021

Majority Of #CSK fans conveniently ignoring #Raina who had been back bone for this franchise since initiation of IPL
He shud be the first name to be retained no matter what#IPL2022#MegaAuction#WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/mlalEW0bLP — Arjun (@JerseyNo36) July 5, 2021

#ipl2022
Four players who may be retained for @ChennaiIPL

1.Mahi
2.Suresh Raina
2.Jaddu
3.Sam Curran #ipl2022 pic.twitter.com/mkChCGhKlU — Fan Club Cricket2021 (@ClubCricket2021) July 5, 2021

I can't imagine csk without suresh Raina he is the backbone of the csk team he must be retain by the management — Navneet raina (@Navneetraina17) July 5, 2021

So CSK shud retain 1. #MSDhoni 2. #Raina 3. #jaddu 4. #samcurran likely Can pull back Faf, Raidu, Mo in Auction. Also they have to aim for some young guns from other teams. Let's see. @ChennaiIPL #CSK — PrasaD (@irprashad) July 5, 2021

Notably, while Raina is CSK’s leading run-scorer, Dhoni has led the Chennai franchise to three IPL titles, which makes it one of the most successful side in the cash-rich league.