CSK CEO Kasi Viswanath reveals MS Dhoni's first reaction to Ben Stokes' purchase at auction; says "Captaincy option is there"

The IPL auction of 2023 saw a number of players become millionaires in a short span of time. This auction broke all the previous records that were set in the first 15 seasons of the Indian Premier League.

In the recently concluded auction, three players matched or outbid the highest ever bid of INR 16.25 crore for Chris Morris by RR in 2021. And as expected, the English test captain, Ben Stokes, was one of those three players. Ahead of the auction, it was expected that Stokes would be the hottest pick in the event in Kochi.

The only suspense was over which team would acquire him for the next edition. And after an intense bidding war between a number of franchises, it was the four-time champion Chennai Super Kings that got the star all-rounder for their team.

The bidding war started between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Supergiants, but CSK jumped into it. Notably, CSK had previously expressed interest in signing Sam Curran, but they were unable to do so because the all-rounder was acquired by Punjab Kings for INR 18.5 crore, making him the most expensive buy in IPL history.

CSK entered the auction with a remaining purse value of INR 20.25 crore. Hence, after missing Curran, they went all out for Stokes. And they eventually got him on their team. Dwayne Bravo announced his IPL retirement, and the English test captain will be an ideal replacement for him.

He will be seen alongside MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, and his teammate Moeen Ali in the yellow jersey. Notably, both Dhoni and Stokes have been teammates for the Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016–17.

After the conclusion of an exciting auction, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan opened up about Dhoni's first reaction to the purchase of Stokes at the auction. The CSK CEO was very excited to have the all-rounder in the team and revealed how Dhoni reacted.

He said, "Very excited to get Stokes, and we were lucky also because he came up at the end. We wanted an all-rounder, and MS was very happy that we got Stokes. Captaincy option is there, but it’s a call MS will take with time."

A total of 80 players were picked by 10 IPL franchises in the auction for a whopping price of INR 167 crore. CSK also signed the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Kyle Jamieson to their team.