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The Science behind the Auction: Coach Fleming

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http://www.chennaisuperkings.com/news/news.aspx As I begin my long trip back to New Zealand I have time to reflect on the last few days in Bangalore and the IPL Auction. The last two days are a bit of a blur but the days and weeks leading up to the auction are all about strike rates and economy levels. It becomes very stressful as you go through stats after stats searching for the combinations that will fit both the franchise and the wallet. Now it’s over and it’s a huge relief to be back in the comforting world of magazines and paperbacks rather than strike rates and economy levels! Putting together a T20 cricket side, from among the best players in the world with a large amount of money sounds like any cricket lover’s dream. But, let me assure you it is an incredibly difficult exercise and as the hammer goes down at the end of day two you are both mentally and emotionally spent. There is a huge amount of work done by many people behind the scenes to gather information and then put it together in a format that will help the buying process on the day. Franchises use this information to devise master plans and even put it to good use as they go through “mock†auctions to try and get a gauge on players demand and price! It’s no secret that in previous auctions we have been very motivated to retain as much of the squad as possible. Sticking with players allows the team to build a strong squad culture. It helps grow consistency of performance and also rewards past performances. This philosophy has served us well over the last 6 years as the squad matured into a championship winning side that was able to maintain consistent results in an inconsistent format. So, let me say at this point I am not a big fan of the auction system that is currently in place for the IPL. This is purely a selfish view, as I know first- hand how much work, mixed with a little luck, goes into creating championship sides. So when you get it right, start winning some games and then have to disband your team it can be very frustrating especially if you’ve just tasted success the year before! The flip side is it keeps the competition fresh and allows for change if needed! Retaining 5 of our players was the first part of the puzzle this year. And its not just any old 5 players with Suresh Raina, Ashwin, Bravo, Jadeja and of course M S Dhoni being 5 of the premier players in the league. Having this core in place makes auction time a lot easier as you look to find bookends for a strong middle order. Whilst we have been consistent selectors in the past this year we felt we could tweak a couple of positions to explore being more aggressive and more specific in our approach rather than rely on a team with a lot of all round skills. We also targeted match winners with our overseas players in an effort to become more dominant. By using our buy back card with Faf and buying Smith and McCullum we have 3 of the world’s best T20 batters as well as Brendon being a backup keeper if MS was injured. Smith has hurt us many times for Mumbai so, instead of devising plans to shut him down, we decided to buy him!! The trade off to this philosophy is we have lost several great campaigners for Chennai Super Kings. Hussey is worth a mention, as he will be sorely missed. If the auction draw had been in a different order then things may have different but we all knew due to Hussey’s outstanding performances he was going to for a high price! We wish him, Murali Vijay, Baddri, Saha and Anirudh all the very best for their new teams. With batting fairly sorted we then needed to fill our bowling ranks starting with Samual Badree from the West Indies. Having been a fan of his bowling for sometime and watching his performances for T and T in the Champions league, we wanted him our squad. Next we needed strong local seamers and were delighted with the group we were able to buy. Mo Sharma made some great progress with us last year and it’s nice to be able to continue that. Ashish Nehra, Ishwar Pandy, Ronit More and Vijay Shankar make up the Indian engine room and will provide variation and pace. A special word on Nehra, he has been a little flat in previous seasons but he has had a good domestic year, he’s fit and has experience and skills that we like. Under MSD players performances rise and with Nehra’s skills we are hopeful of a great season. With change of emphasis on stronger bowling skills we snapped up Ben Hilenhaus to lead the attack. I believe he is under rated in this format and proved that when he was last with Chennai Super Kings. Money was also becoming tight after buying and retaining the above players so it’s at this stage is you start looking at base rates and holes that are still in your squad. We had long debates how to fit Albie Morkel back into the side but the tough choice was made to stick with more bowling specific players at lower base rates and reassess if he wasn’t picked up. Unfortunately for us and fortunately for Albie and RCB he was secured ending a great relationship with us at Chennai Super Kings. He is a friend to many and we wish him every success at the RCB. Matt Henry and John Hastings could be said to be at different ends of their careers. Matt Henry is young and has just burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion for the black caps. John Hastings is much more experienced, being at his best with the Melbourne Stars and Victoria this season. His experience will be valuable around the group as well as his long hitting! Baba Aparajith, Mithun Manhas, Pawan Negi round off the squad and will provide healthy competition for places as well as providing back up in key positions. It is an exciting squad and a talented squad with a mixture of experience and youth. It is full of match winners and we will look to play an exciting and consistent style of cricket. To end a note to those players who have been with us from the start or indeed just a season or 2 that are not with us now. I’m sure there are feelings from some of disappointment and frustration whilst others will be looking forward to new challenges and opportunities. I thank you all for giving your all and making the fabric of CSK that much stronger over the ears. We look forward to seeing you all and wish you all the best for your next endeavours. So that is it. I am just about to land and enjoy some time with the family. I hope this has given you an insight to some of our thinking when trying to put together a side under auction pressure. Yes there are some players that got away and some we let slip but in the end we a team to be proud of and will attempt to continue the proud record of those before us.

Lord Grand Master

Lord

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A special word on Nehra, he has been a little flat in previous seasons but he has had a good domestic year, he’s fit and has experience and skills that we like. Under MSD players performances rise and with Nehra’s skills we are hopeful of a great season.
hes in for a rude surprise this season:cantstop:
zakk Collaborator

zakk

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hes in for a rude surprise this season:cantstop:
but unki team dekh be :(( smith baz raina faf bravo dhoni sir ashwin baba I pandey mohit and THE NEHRA :hatsoff:
zakk Collaborator

zakk

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Neither MI nor CSK will win I see a new winner this time Sent from my Micromax A110 using Tapatalk
says Lakdi Ka Chammach holder :cantstop:
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