IPL 2014: Players likely to be retained by Chennai Super Kings

Ravindra Jadeja: The southpaw from Saurashtra has been making his presence felt steadily over the years and having achieved the number oneall-rounder in the one day rankings would surely be enough to claim a place in this prestigious line-up. Adding to that, he had a pretty successful year in 2013. Along with Raina, he can strengthen the fielding of the yellow brigade.

Dwayne Bravo: The all-rounder from Trinidad and Tobago was Dhoni’s go to man during the death overs in the previous season. Bravo seldom disappointed as he walked away with the purple cap at the end of the season. Apart from that, Bravo could hit some lusty blows if the situation demands it and he would be a perfect fit into Chennai’s scheme of things.

Other choices:

Chris Morris: Though he has not done things to set the stage on fire, he has been a quiet performer who has the potential to become one of the greatest allrounders in the shortest format.

Mohit Sharma: Having picked 20 wickets in just fifteen matches for Chennai, Mohit has debuted for the Indian team on the back of this very performance. Therefore, even if Chennai do not retain him, there are high chances of Chennai paying a heavy price to get him back on the side.

Lesser chances for: Albie Morkel, Faf du Plessis, Michael Hussey, Ben Hifenhaus, Murali Vijay.

The beauty of Chennai Super Kings team is that they can retain any five players in the list as everyone has played a vital role in CSK’s success story. I have put Michael Hussey in the less chance list owing to his age.

MS Dhoni can surprise us by asking the management to retain him ahead of Dwayne Bravo. Chennai is a well settled team and it would be interesting to see how they cope with the new team.