CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan spells out franchises’ plan for Rishabh Pant at the IPL auctions | Cricket News

Ahead of the big IPL player auctions, Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan has admitted that getting high profile Indian players will be difficult. Five-time champions CSK are in the look-out for a big-name Indian player who could be the face of the franchise in the future and with Rishabh Pant available at the auction, there are strong indications that the CSK franchise could go for Pant.
CSK, having retained five players, including MS Dhoni as an uncapped player have only Rs 55 crore in the auction purse. And speaking to former India and CSK player Ambati Rayudu on Provoke TV, Viswanthan said, “We had discussions with Ruturaj, the captain, MS (Dhoni) and coach Stephen Fleming before we decided on the retentions. We were very clear that the players that helped the team grow, and stabilise in the previous years were the ones very important for the CSK team to continue further.”
CSK are without a big name Indian player in their batting order with the franchise relying on their overseas imports and fringe players. With just Rs 55 crore left in the auction, Viswanathan hinted that the trend could continue as well as getting Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul could be beyond their spending limits.
“It was very easy to decide on the retentions – Gaikwad, Jaddu, MS, Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana. But we knew that if we retained these players, we would have a lesser purse to go into the auction. We knew that we wouldn’t be able to compete with the other teams when it came to the best of the Indian players. I mean, we will still try, but I don’t think we’ll be able to get them at the auction,” he added.