IPL Auction 2020 | CSK traded hard for Piyush Chawla, value him highly, reveals Stephen Fleming

The fact that CSK were all in for a quality leg-spinner shows in the way ‘traded hard’ for former KKR mainstay Piyush Chawla. Bought for whopping Rs 6.75 crore by one of the biggest teams in the India Premier League, the seasoned spinner turned out to be one of the unexpected hits of this year’s auction.

Fleming has revealed that the outcome was the result of a well-thought of decision by the franchise as Chawla would prove to be of great value at the slow Chepauk wicket. So according to the coach, the roping in of ample spinners is a good thing, given their home conditions, for the already balanced squad.

"We traded very hard (for Chawla) and certainly the captain has a great relationship with him. He's proven that he's a quality leg-spinner which we value very highly," the CSK coach said.

"He's a different type of bowler than Karn Sharma. We also had to make some decisions around how all fits in but it was an opportunity that came up and we took it. We have a pretty well-balanced squad. We've always favoured spin, our home ground is very spin dominant, so having a lot of spinners is not a bad thing."

One of CSK’s other big guys was England’s paceman Sam Curran, who was bought for Rs 5.5 crore. The team looked at his all-round abilities and the left-arm bowling. And while Pat Cummins was on their mind, Curran was a more realistic buy, given his price tag.

"Well, there were a lot of players...(Pat) Cummins is one that I think most people identified but we didn't have a lot of money. So we had to be very smart. Sam Curran we liked. Yes, he's a left-arm seamer who can bat," shared Fleming.

"He has a great attitude towards the game, he really gets into the game. He played well against us in the past. He's playing well for England. So he fits in nicely with Bravo in that sort of seven-eight position."

Coming to the Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, Fleming has considered him as the added ‘firepower’ to go along with Lungi Ngidi. Overall, the coach seemed pretty happy about the way the auction turned out and how the eventual squad is looking.

"And getting Hazlewood at the end is to add a little bit of firepower with (Lungi) Ngidi. Like other teams, we are just trying to add some pieces and then just work through the combinations," he said.

"You can get confused but we're actually pretty happy with our group. So it was just a case of trying to add a few things different."

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