Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be back in the Indian Premier League (IPL) from next year after serving a two-year suspension. The fans are already rejoicing as MS Dhoni is set to lead side again. Now, a former India cricketer, who was part of the franchise's selection panel, has picked his All Time CSK XI.
VB Chandrasekhar, who was CSK's chief selector and director of cricket operations, has unveiled his 11 players on the franchise's official website today (December 8).
The official twitter handle of the team wrote, "VB @vbcsekar picks his All Time XI Super Kings. Who are yours? #WhistlePodu." They called up on the fans to pick their XIs.
"Taking into consideration the four overseas player restriction, I'll go with the Australian pair of Hayden and Hussey as my openers – Haydos for his power-hitting and Hussey for the structuring that he brings to the innings," Chandrasekhar, who played seven ODIs for India, said.
The 56-year-old continued, "Raina is at No 3 as he does both, and provides impetus to the innings in the middle overs. Given that the top 3 are left-handers, it's Dhoni at No 4, depending on the situation, or it could be the floater Badrinath, followed by Bravo.
"In Ashwin, Jadeja, Gony, Muralitharan and Nehra – not to forget Bravo – I have a varied and incisive attack that, when on song, most sides would struggle against. I would have ideally liked to pick Andrew Flintoff but in subcontinent conditions going in with Murali seems a better option as I'd push in one over from Murali early on to hold one back from Ashwin for the death.
"I could open the attack with Ashwin and Nehra and go through the middle overs with Gony, Jadeja and Murali and again in Nehra and Bravo I have death overs specialists. And in Dhoni I got a world-class three-dimensional cricketer – wicket-keeper, batsman and inspiring leader. Naturally, he will be captaining my all time CSK XI."
CSK are one of the most successful sides in the history of IPL. They have won two IPL titles (2010, 2011) and two Champions League T20 (CLT20) (2010, 2014) trophies.
Here is VB Chandrasekhar's All Time CSK XI in batting order
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Michael Hussey (Orange Cap winner in 2013)
3. Suresh Raina (top run-getter for CSK with 3699 runs)
4. Subramaniam Badrinath
5. MS Dhoni (captain, wicket-keeper)
6. Dwayne Bravo (Purple Cap winner in 2013 & 2015)
7. Ravichandran Ashwin (top wicket-taker for CSK with 90 scalps)
8. Ravindra Jadeja
9. Manpreet Gony
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Ashish Nehra
