IPL 2025: Aakash Chopra Shares Insight on CSK's Retention Strategy

Former India opener and analyst Aakash Chopra has predicted that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will make an offer for KL Rahul, who is leaving the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to join the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) super auction pool. Considering Rahul's prior success with the franchise, his dismissal from LSG is a shocking development. In their first two IPL seasons, 2022 and 2023, Rahul guided LSG to playoff berths; but, a dismal seventh-place result in 2024 forced the team's administration to take a different approach.

He specifically spoke to the debate about Ravindra Jadeja's INR 18 crore price tag. Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (INR 13 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 12 crore), and MS Dhoni (INR 4 crore) are among the five players retained by the five-time winners. As a result, they now have INR 55 crore in cash for the next big auction. Chopra also discussed his thoughts on the controversy surrounding Jadeja's retention value. 

Aakash Chopra gets candid ahead of IPL 2025:

On his YouTube channel, Chopra said, "There was a thought for sure whether Jadeja is overpriced because his T20 numbers are not incredible. Even if you see for Chennai, he has made important contributions but they haven't been so huge that you would say it's 18-crore worth. However, he is a very important player for Chennai. Chennai wants to keep their family together. Sometimes it is more than the money and you won't get this skill set. Axar Patel is there and he is already retained. After that, you can find Krunal Pandya or Mushir Khan but the same quality isn't there. So I feel retaining Jadeja was the right decision."

"Nobody is talking about Ruturaj Gaikwad for T'20 WC. Everyone is going with so called hyped players. He is doing great for long and also led India in Asian games and won it. He should go to T'20 WC"

~Aakash Chopra pic.twitter.com/UXT1lqZJpU

— Hustler (@HustlerCSK) April 26, 2024

Rahul is still open to participating for any team, despite the rumours that he would rejoin the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He is one of the most sought-after players at the auction because of his versatility and success in a variety of roles.

Watch this space for more cricket news.