Kochi, Dec 24 () Former India opener Aakash Chopra has claimed to be baffled by four-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings buying England all-rounder Ben Stokes in the IPL Mini-Auction for a whopping INR 16.25 crore.
“I’m a little surprised with #CSK going that far for Stokes. Chennai isn’t the kind of surface that will be to his liking. #IPLAuction,” Chopra wrote in a tweet on Friday.
He feels that Chennai’s home track at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk will not suit Stokes and therefore was a bit perplexed by the CSK management breaking the bank for him.
“It was a bit baffling for me when Chennai went for Stokes. I felt they won’t go for Stokes and would go for Kane Williamson if they needed a future captain. But the fact that they went hard for Stokes might mean that they are looking to make him Dhoni’s successor and want to build a team around him,” Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel on Saturday.
“When I look at the pitch in Chennai, I get confused about where Stokes will bat and with what kind of approach. He is surely not Bravo’s replacement as he doesn’t bowl that way, and they also don’t have any top-order slots empty. If he plays at No. 3 and Moeen Ali at No. 4, then where will the likes of Rayudu, Jadeja and Dhoni bat?”
Stokes, who represented the Rising Pune Supergiant with Dhoni a few years ago, played in the middle-order for England during their T20 World Cup-winning campaign. But Chopra failed to understand how will CSK fit him into the playing eleven with the likes of Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja.
bsk