Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

MS Dhoni has been reunited with the Chennai Super Kings for this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), and he believes the franchise should regain the services of India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin during the auction, which will be held on January 27 and 28 in Bangalore.

The Super Kings, who are making their comeback after a two-year suspension, opted to retain Dhoni (INR 15 crore), Suresh Raina (INR 11 crore) and Ravindra Jadeja (INR 7 crore).

Since the Super Kings have retained three Indian players, they cannot use a Right to Match (RTM) card for Ashwin during the auction. As a result, Dhoni has called on the team to do everything in their power to secure the services of the 31-year-old.

“We will definitely go for him [Ashwin] in the auction,” Dhoni was quoted as saying by CricTracker. “He is a local lad. We want a lot of local players in CSK.

“We also have Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo (our former players). We have two RTMs. But we have to know when and where to use them. With Ashwin we cannot use the RTM as we have already got three Indian players retained. We have to buy him in the auction. He will come first in the auction. But as I said, we will have to wait and watch. We will try to get him.

Dhoni added that a lot of teams have targeted former Super Kings players in the past, but while the 36-year-old is determined to reassemble the squad the franchise used to have, he admitted that it may not be possible.

“At an auction, we also have to look at how much money we can afford to go for each individual as we look to make a strong team,” he said. “In the past, we have seen a lot of teams target former CSK players. We may have to keep the emotions aside, we may want somebody, but if his price goes outside our range, we have to let him go because we have to focus on making the complete side.”