Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan has revealed that it was one of the toughest calls for the franchise to release Ravindra Jadeja. CSK traded the all-rounder duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran for Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals.

Jadeja made his debut with CSK in 2012 and played for Gujarat Lions during 2016 and 2017 seasons before once again returning to the franchise in 2018.

“As a franchise, you might know that over the years we have not used the path of trading except for one year when we got Robin Uthappa,” Viswanathan told the CSK website. “The team management felt the need of a top-order Indian batsman and since not many Indian batsmen are going to be available at the auction, we thought that the best way is to get an Indian top-order batsman will be to go through the trade window and hence we had to take this call and this decision has been taken by the team management and it is a very tough decision leaving out Jaddu who has been responsible for the success of CSK over the years.”

The CSK CEO revealed the team’s think tank had a conversation with Jadeja before the decision to trade him was locked.

“When I spoke to Jadeja, he was also very clear that if there is an opportunity for him… because he felt he is at the fag end of his white-ball career, he can have a break.

Viswanathan said Sanju Samson fits perfectly in the future scheme of things for the five-time champions.

He concluded, “Sanju has been one of the most experienced IPL batsmen having scored more than 4,500 runs and he has also been leading Rajasthan Royals. He has the experience and he is only around 30 years. So we thought that he will be a good addition for CSK to take care of the future. 

Players released by CSK: Chennai Super Kings: Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, C Andre Siddarth, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Sam Curran (traded to RR), Ravindra Jadeja (traded to RR), Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Matheesha Pathirana.