Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has a history of making household names out of relatively-unknown players who went on to make a splash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and in the international arena.
These days, if CSK scout and buy a youngster in the auction, the spotlight is already on their domestic performances much ahead of the IPL season.
So here are four players in the CSK squad who are likely to make it big in IPL 2025.
The talented Haryana pacer made his IPL debut last season with Mumbai Indians and played three matches. This year, MI’s arch-rivals have secured his signature for INR 3.4 crore in the auction. In the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), the medium pacer played seven group games and maintained an economy of 6.7 even after bowling 23 overs while claiming nine wickets at an average of 16.33.
However, he made headlines for his Ranji Trophy exploits in the group stage match against Kerala when he claimed 10-49 in a single innings – only the seventh Indian to do so in First-Class cricket.
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In the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), he finished as Haryana’s highest wicket-taker and joint-third in the entire tournament with 17 scalps to his name from 10 matches at an average of 22. His ability to strike every 29 balls was key for Haryana to reach the semifinals in VHT.
It’s a great sign for CSK that the fast-bowling allrounder is finding his groove ahead of IPL 2025. Even though it wasn’t a great tournament for Tamil Nadu, Vijay Shankar was excellent with both and ball in the VHT with six wickets and 188 runs from five innings which included a sublime 71 against Chhattisgarh in the final group match and a fighting 49 in the pre-quarterfinal against Rajasthan.
He followed it up with a match-winning 150 not out against Chandigarh in the round six matches of the Ranji Trophy which helped Tamil Nadu qualify for the quarterfinals despite a loss in the final round of matches.
Having a reliable bowler in your ranks doesn’t necessarily mean a swashbuckler with stellar numbers. Mukesh Choudhary is the kind who will get wickets when his team needs him to. In the SMAT 2024, the Maharashtra pacer finished with 15 wickets from six matches with an average of 13 despite playing lesser games than Chandigarh’s Jagjit Singh (18 wickets from seven games) and Madhya Pradesh’s Kumar Kartikeya (17 wickets from 10 matches).
In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mukesh played a key role in Maharashtra’s run into the semis with 12 wickets from seven matches. In the Ranji Trophy, the left-arm pacer has 22 wickets from seven innings at an average of 23.
The experienced spinner’s comeback to the Karnataka team in the 2024-25 season has been a boon for the state side as they won their first trophy after five years. The 31-year-old was supremely consistent with his performances. He finished SMAT 2024 with 14 wickets from seven matches at an economy of 6 and an average of 11.8, which was joint-fourth in the wicket takers list.
He was even better in the VHT with the tournament second highest of 18 wickets from 10 matches as Karnataka clinched the title. Even though Karnataka exited the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 in the group stage, Gopal claimed 20 wickets from eight innings at an average of 25.
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