Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has shed light on Chennai Super Kings’ potential retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. Chopra reckons former CSK captain MS Dhoni will be the team’s first retention as an uncapped player.
However, the renowned commentator feels the second retention will be a toss-up between CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Meanwhile, MS Dhoni can be as retained as an uncapped player as he hasn’t played any International cricket in the last five years since his retirement in 2020. Dhoni scored 161 runs in 11 innings at an impressive average of 53.67 and a blistering strike rate of 220.54 in IPL 2024.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was the second-highest run-getter in IPL 2024 as he scored 583 runs in 14 matches at an average of 53 while leading Chennai Super Kings for the first time.
On the other hand, Jadeja scored 267 runs at an average of 44.50 in the previous season of the IPL and also scalped eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.85.
“You are going to retain Dhoni as an uncapped Indian for four crores. So that’s your first retention. In my opinion, this team has just two players who you would want to give 18 crores – one is the captain and the other is an ex-captain and a very important player of this team – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“You want to give 18 crores each to both of them but who will be the second retention, Rutu or Jaddu – that’s a big question. Assuming you told Rutu that you would retain him for 18 crores, and convinced Jaddu to be retained for 14 crores, the third retention from the capped category has to be Shivam Dube,” the former KKR player added.
Chopra reckons Shivam Dube could be CSK’s third retention as a capped player after Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja.
“I am looking towards Indian players who have game-changing abilities and Shivam Dube’s performance for this franchise has been incredible. The third very big metric is that if I let this player go, for how much will he be sold at the auction? You have the Right To Match card, so it’s not that you can’t build the core. Suppose you retain only two, you will get four RTMs,” he reasoned.
Chopra wants CSK to retain death-over specialist Matheesha Pathirana ahead of the auction.
“I see only these four players – Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, and MS Dhoni as an uncapped Indian. Which other player could have come in this category – Matheesha Pathirana. I want to retain Matheesha Pathirana somehow,” he said.
“It’s possible that this team thinks of retaining Rutu for 18 crores, then Matheesha Pathirana for 14 crores and Shivam Dube for 11 crores or the other way around, and then keep Jaddu as the fourth retention. Then you give 18 crores each to two people. So you retain four plus MS Dhoni,” Chopra observed.
