Chennai Super Kings which are looking to overhaul their squad after a dismal last Indian Premier League (IPL) have started their planning preparations early. With the mini-auction set to take place towards the end of the year, the franchise is in the middle of a 5-day trial camp at its High Performance Centre, which is located in the outskirts of Chennai. Overseeing the camp, which has between 40-50 players is head coach Stephen Fleming himself with fielding coach Rajiv Kumar also in attendance. It is understood that former captain MS Dhoni is also involved closely with the process and is keeping a close watch.
The five-time champions have failed to qualify for the play-off stages for two seasons in a row. The last season, in particular, held after a full-fledged season was a forgettable outing for the franchise where they finished at the bottom of the table. While there has been plenty of chatter around the franchise interested in bringing Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals, The Indian Express understands that the highly-talked about transfer is unlikely to materialise as things stand. With no certainty around Samson, even in the likelihood of the wicketkeeper entering the auction pool, Chennai are keeping their options open.
Last season, their batting unit that lacked firepower was found wanting in terms of firepower. While questions were raised about their approach and their decision to not go for young uncapped players at the auction who had caught other franchises’ attention via state-run domestic T20 leagues, Fleming had thrown weight behind their plan to invest in experienced players as it had fetched them titles in the past.
But, through the course of the season, Fleming appeared to change his views, revealing the franchise had to do better in terms of finding these talents. The performance of their replacement players like Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel and Dewald Brewis, who provided the much needed impetus, did play a role in it.
And with India’s domestic season already underway, CSK are understood to have started the ball rolling. While getting players during the domestic calendar brings its own set of challenges and the monsoon season in the city is a potential roadblock, Chennai have decided to hold the trials as early as possible. According to sources in the franchise, the five-days set to conclude on Saturday, has seen some exciting domestic talents in attendance. It also includes players from various domestic T20 leagues – which took place over the last couple of months.
It is reliably learnt that one of the Indian players, who has fallen way down the pecking order, is also of interest to the franchise which believes his presence could bolster the batting unit. It is not clear at this stage whether the said player was called for the trials, but he definitely remains on the radar of the franchise. That Fleming is also overseeing the trials personally is also down to the coach wanting to have a first-hand picture of the uncapped Indian players, whom the franchise has seldom added to the playing group. While the bowling unit appears more or less settled barring a few additions, it is the batting unit that seems to be the ultimate focus of the franchise. It is understood that most of the players who have been called for the trials are batsmen, although a specific number couldn’t be ascertained.
There are also murmurs that one other prominent Indian player, who the franchise had shown interest to bring home to Chepauk even at the last player auctions, could enter the auction pool. A clear picture on this is expected in the coming days.
