NEW DELHI: India keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant will be the biggest player up for grabs in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions scheduled to held on November 24 and 25.
Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), responded for the first time on Saturday to the escalating rumors that the team would sign Pant.
A media source from Dainik Jagran suggested that Chennai had expressed interest in the wicketkeeper-batter for the upcoming season, which sparked rumors about Pant soon after India's successful T20 World Cup campaign ended.
After Pant was left off of the Delhi Capitals' retention list, the rumors finally reached their zenith.
As a result, Pant joined KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, three well-known Indian players who served as franchise leaders in the previous season, in the INR 2 crore price range for the two-day mega event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Will CSK participate in the fight to win Pant at the high-profile auction? Speaking with former CSK batsman Ambati Rayudu on Provoke TV, Kasi said that they are more interested in bringing back their own players and keeping a core lineup from the 2024 season than they are in chasing the big-name players with a meager auction purse.
"We had discussions with Ruturaj, the captain, MS (Dhoni) and coach Stephen Fleming before we decided on the retentions. We were very clear that the players that helped the team grow, stabilise in the previous years were the ones very important for the CSK team to continue further," Kasi said.
"It was very easy to decide on the retentions -- Gaikwad, Jaddu, MS, Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana. But we knew that if we retain these players, we would have a lesser purse to go into the auction. We knew that we wouldn't be able to compete with the other teams when it comes to the best of the Indian players. I mean, we will still try, but I don't think we'll be able to get them at the auction," he added.
CSK have retained Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and the legendary MS Dhoni, ahead of the auction.
MS Dhoni falls under the category of uncapped player as he hasn't been a part of the starting XI in an international match in the last five years and last played for India in the 2019 ODI World Cup.
