Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had a reasonably successful day at the auction where they bought six players they needed to complete their squad of 25 members. They roped in three overseas players and three Indian players.
Among the Indians, they rebought Shardul Thakur for 4 crores. The franchise bagged Daryl Mitchell for 14 crores, Mustafizur Rahman for his base price of 2 crores, and Rachin Ravindra for a steal of 1.80 crores. The franchise will look to defend its IPL title under MS Dhoni’s captaincy in IPL 2024.
Meanwhile, a lot happened in the Mumbai Indians camp leading up to the IPL 2024 auction. Hardik Pandya was traded from Gujarat Titans and the Mumbai franchise announced him as the new captain. There were further reports that the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav were unhappy with this decision.
Some reports even claimed that the likes of Rohit Sharma and a few others like Bumrah and Surya were not happy with the change in captaincy. The reports came with a hint that there could be a possible trade that might land at least one among Rohit, Surya, or Bumrah to a different team.
Also Read: IPL 2024 Auction: Watch – Punjab Kings Bid For Shashank Singh But Then Refuse To Accept Him
CSK Does Not Believe In The Principle Of Trade: CEO Kasi Viswanathan
However, Mumbai Indians denied the rumors of any such trade. One of the reports further said that among the teams looking to get the trio was Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan crushed the reports with a strong response. He clarified that CSK does not believe in the theory of trading players and also said that no such efforts were made to trade players from Mumbai Indians.
“We don’t trade players as a principle and we also don’t have players to trade with Mumbai Indians. We have not approached them and we don’t intend to either,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher denied reports of any rift between Hardik Pandya and the senior players after the India all-rounder was named the new captain of the five-time IPL champions. Boucher added that the decision behind Hardik’s appointment was proof of the fact that the franchise is on a transitional phase in the league.
“Well, we have had conversations with certain team members and the leadership within the group. I think it’s purely just a transition phase. It’s the game of cricket. Mumbai Indians move forward. Rohit has been fantastic for us. He’s been a stalwart for Mumbai Indians, he has done really well. This is just a decision that is made by us to move forward and get into a transition phase with the new captain and it’s, you know, take all the motions aside and all that type of stuff. That’s simply what it is all about,” the coach said.
“I have heard rumours via social media, all that type of stuff, but I’m not really into social media stuff. As far as I can say it was handled by us in the best way possible. We understand the emotions around everything, but this is purely a transitional phase for Mumbai Indians. And decisions were made by us to move forward and that’s where we are at the moment” he further added.
Also Read: IPL 2024 Auction: “Hardik Pandya Can’t Be Handed…” – Aakash Chopra Feels MI Nailed The Auction
