IPL 2021: Former Indian batsman and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir praised Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) retention policy for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. He said MS Dhoni instead of making strategies for five years, takes one season at a time.
The cricketer-turned-politician speaking on Star Sports Cricket Connected show, said he was not surprised that the three-times IPL champions released only five players and that a utility player like Kedar Jadhav would have got an extension had it not been for his massive price tag.
Jadhav, who was under the scanner for his ordinary performance in IPL 2020, was bought by Chennai for Rs 7.8 crore at the IPL 2019 auction. Jadhav was released along with Murali Vijay, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson (retired) and Monu Singh.
“I feel it is the right strategy. Overall revamp does not mean that you change the entire team. And if you see CSK’s season, it was not that bad a season. Just because there are a lot of expectations from CSK, they have qualified for the playoffs every time, probably because of that we were asking if they need an overall revamp,” Gambhir said.
“This is MS Dhoni’s specialty. I have always said that MS Dhoni does not think too far ahead. He only thinks about building the team for a particular season and that is the difference between CSK and RCB. People are saying that CSK had a very bad season and need an overall revamp but despite that, they have left only five players.
“Piyush Chawla, probably for the price tag and they have a replacement for him in Karn Sharma and Imran Tahir. Kedar Jadhav because of the number at which he bats and the price tag, that could be the reason, if he had a price of 3 or 4 crores, I feel MS Dhoni would have given him another season.
“They have left him only because of the price tag, which I think is a very very sensible thing CSK has done,” he added.
He also criticised Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore for letting 10 players go despite qualifying for the play-offs in IPL 2020. “On the other hand, RCB have left ten players even after qualifying for the playoffs. CSK’s success story in the IPL is a balanced mind that knows how important it is to give security to the players, not only to those players who are in your playing XI but also all the players who are sitting in the dressing room.”