Chennai Super Kings (CSK) management is generally known for making great use of their resources and they don’t generally let good players go. However, some of the decisions that they have made regarding releasing the players or extending their contracts have not been spot on.
Here are the 6 players whom CSK regret letting go –
1.Ravichandran Ashwin
CSK, after releasing Ashwin, decided to replace him with Harbhajan Singh and while Harbhajan is an equally skillful bowler, he hasn’t turned out to be as consistent for CSK as Ashwin.
Ashwin, till date, is CSK’s second highest wicket-taker of all time with 90 wickets in 97 games at an average of 24.20 and an economy rate of only 6.46.
Harbhajan’s economy rate for CSK is way higher as he has gone at a rate of 7.67 runs per over.
2.Chris Morris
Chris Morris was once a part of the CSK set-up, but he was only a young man at that stage of his career and was not as efficient with either bat or ball as he is now.
However, the kind of player Morris has turned into since he has left CSK, CSK would now look back and think they should actually have retained the South African with a long term vision.
Morris is not only a match-winner with the ball in T20 cricket these days, he is a big hitter with the bat as well down the order at no. 7.
3.Jason Holder
Jason Holder is another all-rounder whom CSK had signed a long time back, but Holder was not offering too much with the bat back then and was only a bowler who could bowl with the new ball. If he was as consistent with his all-round abilities as he is now, CSK would probably not have let him go because he would have been a perfect back-up for Dwayne Bravo.
Holder can not only bat in top 5 these days, he can also chip in with the ball every game.
4.David Willey
David Willey was signed by CSK last season, but they decided not to renew his contract for this season. Willey could have added a different dimension to the CSK attack as he was a left-arm fast bowler. He could not only have swung the new ball, he could have opened the batting as well, as he does for Yorkshire very often.
But, CSK went for Sam Curran who is also a player pretty much in the mould of Willey, but he is very young at the moment and not quite as experienced as Willey.
5.Scott Kuggeleijn
Scott Kuggeleijn was also a part of the CSK set-up last season and bowled decently for them in the couple of games that he played, but he was let go by the franchise at the end of the season.
Kuggeleijn is playing some of the best cricket of his career at the moment and recently finished as the highest wicket-taker in the Caribbean Premier League of this year.
Kuggeleijn is a bowler who bowls into the pitch and can use the sluggish surfaces really well. He could have proven to be really useful for CSK in UAE.
6.Sam Billings
Sam Billings is another player whose CSK contract was terminated at the end of the last IPL season and while he was a little inconsistent for CSK, his current international form is top notch. It was only recently that he scored a hundred in an ODI game against a world class bowling attack of Australia.
The fact that CSK hasn’t got too many finishers in their squad means they could have done with a player like Billings.
