Harbhajan Singh bids farewell to Chennai Super Kings as his contract with IPL side ends

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh revealed that his contract with the Chennai Super Kings ended on Wednesday and that he will no longer be a part of the IPL side. The ace spinner, who was roped in by CSK two years ago, bid farewell to the Super Kings while terming his experience with MS Dhoni & co as 'great'. Notably, Harbhajan Singh pulled out from IPL 2020 that was held in the UAE citing personal reasons. Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to inform his fans about his contract with CSK coming to an end and expressed his gratitude to Chennai Super Kings' staff, management and fans. 

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Harbhajan Singh's contract with Chennai Super Kings ends

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CSK eyeing a revamp?

The MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings finished seventh in the Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season last November. Their worst-ever seasonal outing has apparently evoked a change in the outlook of their squad, with recent reports indicating that the franchise is likely to part ways with quite a few of their battle-hardened players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction. Along with Harbhajan Singh, Chennai Super Kings also missed the services of their most-experienced southpaw Suresh Raina during IPL 2020. According to a report by InsideSport, MS Dhoni and CSK team management are still unsure about retaining Raina for the upcoming season as the reason is being understood is the hefty pay-tag attached to the retired cricketer.  As per the report, Raina had a ₹11 crore contract with Chennai side and as per the IPL norms, if a player has to be retained by the IPL franchise, it has to be done on the same price as it was in the previous year.

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Piyush Chawla, Vijay likely to not reprise their Chennai roles

Piyush Chawla set the cash registers ringing at the IPL 2020 auction event back in December 2019. After much competition between the bidding committees, Chennai secured the veteran spinner for ₹6.75 crores. However, the cricketer returned with a below-par performance, yielding just six wickets in the seven league matches he played for the franchise in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Moreover, Chawla was also expensive in his spells, leaking runs at an economy rate of 9.09.

On the other hand, seasoned opener Murali Vijay played just three matches for Chennai in the Dream11 IPL 2020 season. He scored 32 runs at an average of 10.67 and maintained a strike-rate of 74.41. If the franchise ends up releasing Vijay before the deadline of submitting their retained players’ list, the Chennai-based batsman will add another ₹2 crores to their purse, thus getting their purse renewed by Chennai securing ₹8.75 crores.

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