IPL 2025 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Confirmed Best Squad List

Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead in our evaluation of dream squad and players list for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for IPL 2025. 

The 5-times IPL champions, the Chennai Super Kings kick-started their IPL campaign by retaining 5 players ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. CSK are one team that has always believed in giving their players a longer rope, and the IPL Auctions, be it Mini or Mega mostly don’t deter their thought process. Even as CSK face a tough battle to get their players back from the Auction, they will go to all lengths to get them.

The CSK team focused on retaining their core, and they retained a total of 5 players ahead of the Auction. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja were retained at the highest price bracket of 18 Cr. Whereas Pathirana and Dube were retained for 13 and 12 Cr respectively. Meanwhile, MS Dhoni was retained only for 4 Cr, which helped them save good money for the Auction.

While retaining a strong core of 5 players isn’t a bad strategy, what happens is that CSK now have only 55 Cr left to build the remaining squad of 13-20 players from the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. CSK also have an RTM option left, and among the strong probables, we are looking at the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, or Daryl Mitchell.

IPL 2025 Official Retained Players List for Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube & Matheesha Pathirana (o)

Total Players Retained: 5 // Purse Left: 55 Cr

Overall, with 5 players already retained, and one RTM option left, CSK may be left with around 40-55 Cr only after getting back the existing 6 players of their choice. What this means is that CSK won’t have the budget to get star Indian players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul Shreyas Iyer, etc., even if they would want to go bang hard in the Auction. Even after getting those 6 players, CSK would still need at least 12-19 players from the Auction with potentially 10 more good players.

So, the news about Rishabh Pant meeting MS Dhoni, and his potential transfer to CSK may still be a dream for the CSK fans. If CSK were to buy Rishabh Pant, they would have to shell out roughly 20 Cr. Add a potential RTM like Devon Conway or Rachin Ravindra to it for roughly 10 Cr, and CSK will see only 15 Cr to complete the remaining squad. Thus, if CSK were to spend so much money on Pant, their overall team quality would be affected, and that is something CSK won’t do. 

Batters & Wicket-keepers

Now, if we look at the DNA of CSK, this is one team that invests in a lot of all-rounders, and very less on batters. With Ruturaj Gaikwad already there, all CSK need is a replacement for Ajinkya Rahane for a solid 3 or 4 position. Among the potential players that may be available in the Auction, someone like Rahul Tripathi would be ideal to fill this gap. Given Rahul’s moderate success in the IPL recently, he shouldn’t cost more than 5 Cr to CSK.

 Aside from Rahul Tripathi, if CSK don’t go after Pant, they won’t have any issues getting their existing batters and wicket-keepers like Devon Conway, Sameer Rizvi, and Shaikh Rasheed for roughly 12-15 Cr. In addition, CSK will also be after Matthew Wade, Bishnu Vinod, and N Jagadeesan as backup wicket-keeping options. Again, investing in these keepers shouldn’t cost CSK more than 5 Cr.

All-rounders

Coming to all-rounders, CSK’s primary target will be to get back Rachin Ravindra via the RTM card. Rachin is one of the top emerging prospects in the world currently, and CSK who has already seen a lot of Rachin will consider him as their top RTM pick. Given Rachin’s talent, expect him to go around 12-14 Cr in the Auction. So, if CSK don’t go after quality Indian talent in the Auction, they should be able to get back Rachin as well as Devon. 

Aside from Rachin, CSK may also be keen to get back Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips as potential all-rounders. Both are solid options to have, CSK won’t have to spend much on these players. So, by spending roughly around 5-6 Cr, they should be able to get both these all-rounder finishers. In addition, CSK may also be eyeing a good off-spin all-rounder like Tanush Kotian. Tanush is a brilliant bowler, and can come in as a handy batter too. Expect CSK to fetch him for around 4 Cr.

Bowlers

Now, finally talking about bowlers, CSK already had a strong core of fast bowlers, and they will do everything possible to get back these bowlers. Among the target options, CSK will look at their existing pacers like Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, and Mustafizur Rahman. Now, barring Tushar, other pacers won’t cost much to the CSK team, So, expect CSK to get them at roughly around 10-11 Cr. Aside from these pacers, CSK will also be eyeing Maheesh Theekshana and Prashant Solanki.

IPL 2025 Dream Squad and Players List for Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Batters: Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sameer Rizvi & Shaik Rasheed

WKs: Devon Conway (o), Matthew Wade (o), MS Dhoni, N Jagadeesan & Vishnu Vinod

All-rounders: Ajay Mandal, Glenn Phillips (o), Mitchell Santner (o), Nishant Sindhu, Rachin Ravindra (o), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube & Tanush Kotian

Bowlers: Maheesh Theekshana (o), Matheesha Pathirana (o), Mukesh Choudhary, Mustafizur Rahma (o), Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh & Tushar Deshpande

So, that’s about the dream CSK squad and players list for IPL 2025. Overall, CSK will be able to build a strong core of players from their existing squad if they don’t go after star Indian players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, etc. It doesn’t make sense to spend 20-21 Cr on these players, and then build an entirely new squad. CSK would do well if they just focus on getting their regular players in the Auction. 

Thanks for reading! What’s your strongest squad list for CSK for IPL 2025? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com

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Adesh Kothari

Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.

Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.

Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.