The former India skipper MS Dhoni has revealed the plans of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the IPL auction 2018. They have already retained Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja along with Dhoni in the player retention event. However, it remains to be seen what kind of players they pick for the upcoming season the cash-rich T20 tournament.

CSK will be not be looking to leave any stone unturned in their preparations as they return to the competition after serving the suspension for two years. They along with Rajasthan Royals (RR) were banned from playing in IPL after their alleged association with the spot-fixing scandal which broke through in 2013. They are the only team to have qualified for the playoffs in all eight seasons of the Indian T20 league and they would like to continue their prowess in the upcoming season.

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MS Dhoni has urged the CSK team management to buy the local players in the team during the auction. He also emphasized that they will go for R Ashwin aggressively and want him in the team at any cost as he is the local player as well. He said, “We will definitely go for him [Ashwin] in the auction. He is a local lad. We want a lot of local players in CSK.”

He further elaborated, “We also have Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo (our former players). We have two RTMs. But we have to know when and where to use them.With Ashwin, we cannot use the RTM as we have already got three Indian players retained. We have to buy him in the auction. He will come first in the auction. But as I said, we will have to wait and watch. We will try to get him.”

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The captain cool also opined that a lot of teams target the former players of the franchise at the auction. He described, “At an auction, we also have to look at how much money we can afford to go for each individual as we look to make a strong team. In the past, we have seen a lot of teams target former CSK players. We may have to keep the emotions aside, we may want somebody, but if his price goes outside our range, we have to let him go because we have to focus on making the complete side.”

One of the smartest cricketers on the cricket field won’t be present for the auctions but seems to have discussed the strategy with the management. He was aware of the team combination as well and would be having an eye on the auctions from South Africa where he will be preparing for the upcoming ODI series against the Proteas.