IPL 2019: 3 Players Chennai Super Kings should release before next season

The 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League has reached its end and we have our champion for this season in Mumbai Indians. The two finalists battled it out on Sunday at Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings to win their 4th IPL title.

This year like every other year was full of excitement and action, and maybe, this was the most closely fought IPL as for the first time, a team with 12 points made it through to the playoffs. We have seen many brilliant teams over the years but none as consistent as the Chennai Super Kings.

This year also, they successfully made it into the finals, which was their second consecutive and they have also made it into the playoffs every season. While they were at the top of their game from the start, this by no means was a plane sail for them as some players disappointed along the way.

CSK were belligerent all season but in this slideshow, we take a look at the three players who should be released before next year:

#3 Kedar Jadhav

(Image Courtesy IPLT20 BCCI)

CSK's batting unit was the one to disappoint this season as barring Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni, nobody was consistent enough. The middle order especially flattered to deceive and one such player who had a bad season this year was Kedar Jadhav.

Jadhav hasn't had many great IPL's over the years and this was another year in which he failed miserably. In the 14 matches that he played this season, he scored just 162 runs at an average of 18. Also, he didn't play in this CSK team as an all-rounder and that makes those stats look worse.

#2 Ambati Rayudu

(Image Courtesy IPLT20 BCCI)

One thing that everyone knows about now is the weaknesses of the CSK middle order which proved to be too dependent on MS Dhoni this season. One of the batsmen who didn't perform both at the top of the order and the middle order was Ambati Rayudu.

Rayudu had a terrific season last year for CSK but this year, he flattered to deceive. In the 17 matches that he played, he just scored 282 runs at an average of 23. Rayudu started the tournament as an opener, but due to his inconsistent performances, he was dropped down to the middle order and he didn't perform at that position as well.

He got starts in almost every game but he consumed too many deliveries to get set. With the patience of the CSK team management running out, they might be looking at a potential replacement at the auctions and Rayudu might be released before next year.

#1 Shardul Thakur

(Image Courtesy IPLT20 BCCI)

Another problem that the defending champions faced this year was the quality of their death bowling, especially without Dwayne Bravo. Barring Deepak Chahar, no Indian seamer really found his groove in the tournament and one of those bowlers who had a bad time this year was Shardul Thakur.

Thakur found it tough to put in consistent performances and his death bowling was poor, to say the least. In the 10 matches that he played this season, he picked up just 8 wickets at an economy rate of 9.2. Shardul isn't a specialist T20 bowler by any means and he may not be in CSK's long term plans.

CSK need to increase the quality of their death bowling next year if they are to win the crunch moments. Thakur hasn't shown any signs of improvement over the course of the tournament and he may be released before next year.