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Before the start of the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are left to cover a couple of massive holes. Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh have pulled out IPL 2020, citing personal reasons.
Now, Aakash Chopra, former Indian cricketer, has named the six possible replacements for the veteran off-spinner. Out of them, three turned out to be overseas players, while the rest of them are domestic cricketers.
CSK have already exhausted their quota of eight overseas players. The N Srinivasan-owned franchise can only look at the services of a foreign cricketer, in case one of the current overseas members in CSK is injured or pulls out, during the tournament.
“I am starting with Roston Chase, the West Indian. He is not an ideal T20 player but currently he is playing well. He is performing really well in the CPL. He did well in England as well, scored runs and took wickets as well. He can also bat and MS Dhoni likes players who do two things,” Chopra said on YouTube channel.
“The second option is Nathan Lyon. He is also not an ideal T20 bowler else he would have been playing in the Australian team regularly. But he is an international bowler of repute and I feel he will be a bigger force if he plays under MS Dhoni. He doesn’t bat much but they can do without it.” he added.
“At No.3, I have Mehidy Hasan Miraz. He is a Bangladesh player, short in height but is an amazing player. He bats well and bowls well and with control. I think he can fit the bill for CSK,” the cricketer-turned-commentator continued. Mehidy Hasan has been part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) earlier.
Chopra names the Indian prospects
Coming to the local prospects, Chopra first-named Jalaj Saxena. The off-spinner from Madhya Pradesh also received backing from Deep Dasgupta as a replacement for Bhajji.
“My first Indian pick is Jalaj Saxena. He has been performing well for a long time and has played in the IPL before. If you see his first-class performance, you will feel why he doesn’t play for India. He is not part of any team this year, so one man’s loss could be another man’s opportunity.”
“My second Indian option is Akshay Wakhare. He bowls off-spin and with good control. Even Harbhajan Singh has praised him a lot, mentioning that there is no reason that he should not be playing a higher grade of cricket because he is consistent, accurate and will give a lot of first-class experience.”
“Last but not the least, I am going with KC Cariappa. He has been picked in the IPL earlier and his name does the round as a mystery spinner. He is a little inaccurate which might go against him but picking an Indian is advantageous,” Chopra concluded.
