IPL Auction 2024: What CSK New Recruits Rachin Ravindra & Daryl Mitchell Said After Joining MS Dhoni's Side?

New Zealand's ODI World Cup 2023 stars Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra were bagged by the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Player Auction in Dubai.

During the mini-auction on Tuesday (December 19) in Dubai, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings went after the youngster Ravindra right off the bat with latter walking away with the player for Rs 1.80 Crore.

Ravindra described the moment when his name appeared during his first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction as 'strange' and also expressed his happiness for his compatriot Mitchell, who was bought by the Yellow Brigade for a whopping Rs 14 Crore.

"It was a strange feeling, but it was nice to have a couple of boys around me. It's really exciting you grow up watching IPL, always weird to see yourself on TV with paddles going up," Rachin said as quoted saying to New Zealand Cricket. "Watching Daryl's auction was special I am so happy for him."

Ravindra and Mitchell become the third and fourth Kiwi in the CSK squad after Mitchell Santner and Devon Conway. CSK's head coach is also a former Blackcap, Stephen Fleming, while several former players like Scott Styris have also been part of the franchise.

Like Ravindra, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings were the ones involved in the bidding war for Mitchell, but CSK, who entered the bidding at Rs 12 Crore and walked away with the all-rounder for Rs 14 Crore.

Mitchell, who has good connect with Santner, also expressed his eagerness to share the same dressing room with the other Kiwis in the side as well the Indian players in the squad.

"I grew up with Mitch (Santner) since we were about 12 years old. And now, with Dev and Rachin in the team as well, it is going to be good fun. And again, a lot of the Indian players - the cool thing about the IPL is that you get to rub shoulders with some world-class players, so really looking forward to that," Mitchell said.

This will be Ravindra's first season in IPL, but Mitchell has featured in the lucrative league earlier. His last season was in 2022 with Rajasthan Royals (RR). He played only two matches in the extravagant T20 tournament and scored 33 runs.

The pair were the top run-getters in the bygone ODI World Cup in India, where Ravindra scored 578 runs, including 3 hundreds and 2 fifties, while Mitchell amassed 552 runs, including two centuries and two fifties.