IPL 2020: 3 players who could be surplus to CSK 

Chennai Super Kings are one of the few sides in IPL that do not make wholesome changes to the squad. CSK have a history of backing its players and this strategy has paid off more often than not. The trend continued this season too as CSK released just 5 players ahead of the auction which meant CSK had limited slots to fill at the auction. CSK bought a couple of big names in Piyush Chawla and Sam Curran to add to a star-studded squad.

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CSK squad

Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, N Jagadeesan (WK), M Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, Sam Curran, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ravi Sai Kishore, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Josh Hazlewood

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Also see – Under 19 world cup schedule

However, with so many big players at their disposal, some of the players are bound to remain surplus. We will look at 3 such players in Chennai Super Kings who might be surplus in IPL 2020.

#3 Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay has played some swashbuckling innings for Chennai Super Kings in the past and was once a regular feature in the playing XI. However, with time, Vijay's performance has deteriorated.

The last two seasons haven't been great for Murali Vijay as he played just 3 games scoring only 76 runs. Vijay's fitness hasn't been great either as he missed several games due to injury. Moreover, CSK already has two well-established openers in Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis in the side. And in case they decide to change things around they have got young Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been in sensational form for India A, waiting in the wings. Vijay might find it difficult to get into in the playing XI and might have to warm the bench.

#2 Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood

Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Chennai Super Kings bought Josh Hazlewood at his base price of INR 2 crore. Even though Hazlewood has been a top performer for Australia in Test cricket, his T20 credentials aren't encouraging. The 28-year-old has played just 7 T20Is picking up 7 wickets at a poor economy of 9.61. Due to national commitments and emphasis on Test cricket, Hazlewood hasn't really played too much franchise cricket. Moreover, he has no prior experience of playing in the IPL.

CSK is a team that relies heavily on its spinners which makes the decision even more surprising. Even if CSK strays from its strategy of playing a spin-heavy attack, they have Englishman Sam Curran and Proteas speedster Lungi Ngidi. Owing to these reasons, it is highly unlikely that Hazlewood will get any games at this year's IPL unless anyone is injured or unavailable.

#1 Mitchell Santner

Mitchell Santner

Mitchell Santner is an extremely useful T20 cricketer. He can bowl tidy spells in the middle-overs not allowing batsmen to get easy runs, he can get some quick runs in the slog overs and is quite swift on the field. However, his skills might be overlooked by his IPL side Chennai Super Kings in 2020.

Apart from Santner, CSK has as many as 6 different spin-bowling options and most of them have a proven track record in the IPL. Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir are veterans of IPL and T20 cricket and if we look at their IPL numbers of last season, they still have it in them to make it to the playing XI. Then they brought in Piyush Chawla, who is 4th in the list of highest wicket-takers in the IPL. They also have a couple of other spinners in Karn Sharma and Sai Kishore in the side but Santner's biggest competition will be Ravindra Jadeja. Both Santner and Jadeja possess similar skill-sets and the latter is surely CSK's first choice.