CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan has revealed that Moeen Ali had no doubts in his mind about being retained for CSK when the management contacted him with the offer of third choice retention.
Moeen Ali was one of the standout performers for CSK in the last IPL and he could have earned a bit more in the mega auction than the 8 crore INR contract that CSK offered him with the third choice retention, but the England allrounder told the CSK CEO that he just didn’t care if he was the first retention or the fourth retention, he was going to be there for CSK.
It has just been one season that Moeen Ali has spent at CSK and although it has been a title-winning season where the team dominated the whole tournament, the kind of attachment that Moeen has developed with the franchise is extraordinary.
Before Moeen, the former Australian opener Shane Watson, who also won the title with CSK in his very first season in 2018, had talked about the franchise in very high regards, about the relationships that they build with the players and the kind of security that they provide the players about their spots in the side.
Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad are well suited to the conditions at CSK’s home ground, Chepauk
Apart from Moeen Ali, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan also talked about the youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad, who won the orange cap last year in the IPL. Ruturaj was offered the fourth choice retention by CSK, fetching him a contract of 6 crore INR and according to Kasi, the opening batsman from Maharashtra didn’t have any hesitation whatsoever in accepting the offer.
“When we spoke to Moeen first, he said ‘whether I am one, two, three or four, I don’t mind, I will be there’. So was the case with Rutu,” CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan was quoted as saying by the official website of CSK.
CSK had cricketing reasons behind retaining Moeen and Ruturaj, apart from two of their mainstays MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. Both Moeen and Rutu are the kind of players who are well suited to the conditions at CSK’s home ground, Chepauk. While Ruturaj is a high-quality player of spin, Moeen is an effortless six-hitter and a very reliable off-spin option on spinning tracks.
