IPL 2024: Why CSK Won't Sign Sarfaraz Khan To Replace Devon Conway?

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Defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered a blow just a few weeks before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season after it was revealed that New Zealand opener Devon Conway will miss at least the first half of the campaign.

With Conway requiring surgery for his factured thumb and needing 8 weeks of recovery time, CSK are likely to be without the services of the player of the final from their title win last season.

CSK have time to sign a replacement or they may wait on their trusted opener to make a return. If they do sign someone to replace Conway, there are several names they can go after in the next few weeks.

However, someone like Sarfraz Khan, who recently shined for India against England after earning his much-awaited call up to the Test side, won't be a player CSK will look at as a like-for-like replacement.

Why CSK won't sign Sarfaraz Khan to replace Devon Conway?

CSK can sign Sarfaraz without a doubt, but won't sign the Indian batter to replace New Zealand's Conway as they are stacked in the Indian batting options in the squad.

The four-time champions, who had released four Indian players ahead of the auction, bought three from the country to fill their squad quota of 25 players at the IPL 2024 auction last December.

CSK already have 17 Indian or domestic players in their squad for the upcoming IPL 2024 with Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube likely to be immediate picks. Hence, they wiil not sign someone like Sarfaraz or any other Indian player to replace Conway.

MS Dhoni's side can rope in Sarfaraz if one of their Indian or domestic players are ruled out of the season due to injury or any other reason. So, Sarfaraz can be roped in to the side as a replacement for someone like Shivam Dube, who is currently injured.

The Indian all-rounder, who represents Mumbai in the domestic circuit, however, is likely to be fit and available for the start of the season, ruling out the possibilty of CSK going after his state teammate.

Who can CSK target to replace Conway?

Conway news is yet to be officially confirmed by the defending champions, who may wait for his return to fitness or may go after one of his compatriots to replace him in the form of Finn Allen, who was released by RCB last year.

Allen, who has shown shined in flashes as an opener for the New Zealand T20 team, remained unsold in the IPL 2024 auction, for which he had registered himself for Rs 1 Crore base price. The price and profile could be feasible for CSK. Here is how the CSK squad looks for this season:

CSK 2024 Squad

MS Dhoni (captain), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana.