Updated December 20th, 2019 at 17:47 IST

IPL Auction 2020: Piyush Chawla thrilled to reunite with MS Dhoni after last India outing

The Chennai Super Kings were very silent for the whole auction but went all in for a few players. Piyush Chawla was their biggest purchase at INR 6.75 crore.

Reported by: Mrigank Pandey
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India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has been one of the Indian Premier League's most consistent bowlers of all time. On Thursday, when Chawla's name was called out at the auction, he found a lot of interest from the Kings XI Punjab but it was the Chennai Super Kings, who ended up taking Chawla home. The move means that he is all set to reunite with MS Dhoni, who was his captain when he last played for India in 2012.

ALSO READ | IPL Auction 2020: Final squads of all 8 teams after combined spend of Rs. 140.30 crore

Piyush Chawla and MS Dhoni: World Cup-winning teammates

Piyush Chawla was a part of the squad which finally brought the 50-overWorld Cup back to India after 28 years in April 2011. Chawla's last ODI for India also came in the same tournament against the Netherlands and since then, Chawla has barely worn the Indian jersey. While the leg-spinner kept playing the IPL and domestic cricket, MS Dhoni and he have not shared a dressing room in more than eight years. Chennai fans welcomed Chawla with a lot of warmth and hopefully, Chawla finds it good going for his new team. Chawla was Chennai's most expensive purchase for INR 6.75 crore. He has 150 wickets in 157 IPL matches.

Chawla spoke to a leading Indian news agency after being picked by CSK and commented that he was thrilled about playing under MS Dhoni again. He called CSK the 'best team to play for'. The leg spinner also clarified that he had no bad blood with KKR as the team had communicated their decision to drop him well in advance. Chawla added that Kolkata did not have a pitch that suited his skills anymore, making Chennai the best place to exhibit his talent. He also commented that he was not sure if he would get to play in the final XI because of the presence of Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir.

ALSO READ | IPL Auction 2020: 5 most surprising bids by franchises this year including Piyush Chawla

IPL Auction 2020: Chennai Super Kings full roster

Chennai Super Kings have retained most of their core for the 2020 season. Here is the full team. 

  1. MS Dhoni (captain)
  2. Ambati Rayudu
  3. KM Asif
  4. Deepak Chahar
  5. Dwayne Bravo
  6. Faf du Plessis
  7. Harbhajan Singh
  8. Imran Tahir
  9. Narayan Jagadeesan
  10. Karn Sharma
  11. Kedar Jadhav
  12. Lungi Ngidi
  13. Mitchell Santner
  14. Monu Kumar
  15. Murali Vijay
  16. Ravindra Jadeja
  17. Ruturaj Gaikwad
  18. Shane Watson
  19. Shardul Thakur
  20. Suresh Raina
  21. Sam Curran
  22. Piyush Chawla
  23. Josh Hazlewood
  24. R Sai Kishore

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Published December 20th, 2019 at 15:24 IST