GameDay Squad IND Fantasy Cricket Squad Preview: The Chennai Super Kings! Get the inside scoop on the Chennai Super Kings Cricket Squad for the upcoming GameDay Squad competition with an in-depth analysis and preview. Find out who to watch out for!
The Chennai Super Kings are the former champions of the Indian Premier League and are once again, favourites to take out the tournament. I think they have a great all-round squad and I’m expecting them to be there at the business end of the tournament.
Squad (Averages and position rank for IPL 2023 included)
Devon Conway – Batsman (AVG 55, Rank 1st)
Ruturaj Gaikwad – Batsman (AVG 55, Rank 5th)
Ajinkya Rahane – Batsman (AVG 34, Rank 15th)
Moeen Ali – All-rounder (AVG 27, Rank 34th)
Shivam Dube – All-rounder (AVG 37, Rank 17th)
Ravindra Jadeja – All-rounder (AVG 50, Rank 4th)
M.S. Dhoni – Wicket-Keeper (AVG 17, Rank 16th)
Deepak Chahar – Bowler (AVG 37, Rank 20th)
Matheesha Pathirana – Bowler (AVG 40, Rank 10th)
Maheesh Theekshana – Bowler (AVG 26, Rank 51st)
Mukesh Choudhary – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Ajay Mandal – All-rounder (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Mitchell Santner – All-rounder (AVG 31, Rank 25th)
Nishant Sindhu – All-rounder (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Prashant Solanki – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Rajvardhan Hangargekar – Bowler (AVG 34, Rank 29th) Shaik Rasheed – Batsman (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Simarjeet Singh – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Tushar Deshpande – Bowler (AVG 36, Rank 22nd) Sameer Rizvi – Batsman (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Aravelly Avanish – Wicket-Keeper (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Daryl Mitchell – All-rounder (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Rachin Ravindra – All-rounder (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Mustafizur Rahman – Bowler (AVG 17, Rank 69th)
Shardul Thakur – All-rounder (AVG 30, Rank 26th)
IPL 2023 stats from CSK home matches played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium
Eight games played; CSK won five of them
Team winning the toss won three matches
Chasing team won four matches
Average first innings score of 169 (lowest 134 / highest 217)
Batter GDS average 29 points per match
All-rounder GDS average 33 points per match
Bowler GDS average 30 points per match
Wicketkeeper GDS average 34 points per match
96 wickets taken by bowlers, 51 to seam and 45 to spin
Batters
Ruturaj Gaikwad is the premier batsman for CSK. He had a very good IPL in 2023, scoring four fifties, six scores of 30+ runs and averaged 39 runs for the tournament. He played fifteen matches and was ranked a BAT1 in ten of these matches. It's likely that Gaikwad will open the batting again this season and I think a lot of GDS coaches will be starting him in most matches.
Ajinkya Rahane is the other recognised batsman for CSK. He had a rollercoaster of an IPL in 2023, scoring two fifties, two scores of 30+ runs, two ducks and averaged 25 runs for the tournament. He played 13 matches and was ranked a BAT1 in five of these matches. Looking at his form last season it was like a game of two halves. He had a great start and averaged 53 points over his first five matches. Over his final eight matches he averaged 23 points. It's likely that Rahane will be coming in at number three in the CSK batting order and he will be a solid option for GDS coaches.
Bowlers
I only have one Chennai bowler I want to highlight and it should come to no surprise who it is. 21-year-old Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana will look to back up what was a very promising 2023 IPL tournament! Pathirana ended the 2023 IND Cricket season as the 10th ranked bowler based on GameDay Squad Cricket scoring and comfortably CSKs best in terms of fantasy scoring. Pathirana is a player card you will be using a lot in 2024, if you're lucky enough to have packed one!
All-rounders
Ravi Jadeja once again has a very clear runway to fantasy cricket success in 2024. The walking, talking highlight reel in all three facets of cricket will once again prove to be one of the better GameDay Squad cards in 2024. Jadeja finished as the 4th overall all-rounder in 2024, averaging 50 GDS fantasy points per game! He has had to deal with a niggly hamstring injury during the India vs England test series, but expect one of the best cricketers on the planet to get himself ready for a massive IPL tournament.
One of crickets golden children has been picked up by CSK for 1.8 crore in the IPL auction, and GameDay Squad fantasy coaches need to take note! New Zealander Rachin Ravindra stamped his name on the world cricketing stage during the One Day World Cup in 2023! Ravindra finished 4th overall for total runs (578 runs), 10th overall for average (64.22 runs per innings) and 11th for most sixes (17) all while averaging an eye-watering 102.6 GDS fantasy points per game in GameDay Squads World Cup tournament. Similarly to Jadeja, expect Ravindra to produce fantasy points with bat and ball in hand, while also making an impact in the field. He'll be a must start for me when CSK play.
Wicket Keeper
Unquestionably STILL the biggest name in this Chennai Super Kings squad nam is of course CSK's active legend M.S. Dhoni who finished 14th overall amongst all wicket-keepers in IND Cricket scoring last season! The former Indian international captain has enjoyed an extended purple patch in all forms of cricket through his entire career but will father time eventually catch up? Has it already? I'm not brave enough to make that call but you can never count the great man out regardless of where he come in at the crease in the batting order.
Predicted Starting XI
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad
2. Rachin Ravindra
3. Ajinkya Rahane
4. Daryl Mitchell
5. Mitchell Santner
6. Shivam Dube
7. M.S. Dhoni
8. Ravindra Jadeja
9. Shardul Thakur
10. Deepak Chahar
11. Matheesha Pathirana
Impact Player: Moeen Ali