Veteran Indian and Rajasthan Royals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin named a player whom he thinks Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will invest in for the Indian Premier League (2024.) He believes that management would be eyeing the replacement of Ambati Rayudu, who retired from the league. 

According to Ravichandran Ashwin CSK might invest in Karun Nair more than Shahrukh Khan. He feels that the latter will not be the replacement for Ambati Rayudu as they need someone in the middle order who can play calmly and rotate strike. 

Karun Nair was part of Lucknow Super Giants for the IPL 2023 and was released by the franchise. The batter will be entering the action and will be under the radar for many. However, him going to CSK for IPL 2024 could well be a gold move for both batters as well as the franchise. 

Karun Nair has been one of the consistent performers in the domestic cricket. However, he’s not known for his exploits in the T20s. Playing under the leadership of MS Dhoni could well be the career-changing thing for him as was the case with Robin Uthappa, Ajinkya Rahane and many others. 

Read Also: IPL 2024 Auction: 3 Players CSK Should Buy in IPL 2024 Auction | Chennai Super Kings

Karun Nair of late has been in staggering form. He recently scored 532 runs in 12 innings in this year’s Maharaja T20 Trophy. He ended the tournament as the leading run-getter and batted with a strike rate of 162.69. Him being 31 could fit well for CSK in the middle order. 

The IPL 2024 auction will take place on December 19th in Dubai. Chennai Super Kings have the budget of ₹32.1 crore. It remains to be seen if Ashwin’s prediction proves out to be right or not. 

Players retained and released by CSK ahead of IPL 2024

IPL 2024 {PC: BCCI/IPL}
IPL 2024 {PC: BCCI/IPL}

Chennai Super Kings Retained Players

MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway (wk), Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana.

Chennai Super Kings Released Players

Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, K. Bhagath Varma, Subhranshu Senapati, Ambati Rayudu, Kyle Jamieson, Akash Singh, Sisanda Magala.