The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was nothing less than a nightmare for the fans of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). One of the most dominant franchises in the tournament, the Yellow Army looked completely off-colour in the previous season played in UAE. After a delayed start to their training camp with two players testing positive for Covid-19, CSK struggled throughout the season and failed to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. With Dwayne Bravo struggling with injury and with two senior players in Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina pulling out of IPL 2020, Dhoni was left with plenty to think about. Surprisingly, even the skipper had a poor season as per his own standards as he managed to score just 200 runs in 14 matches. CSK will enter IPL 2021 without their dynamic opener Shane Watson who has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Harbhajan was released by the franchise as CSK roped in two quality all-rounders in Krishnappa Gowtham and Moeen Ali at the auction. CSK also won praise from their rivals when they bought Cheteshwar Pujara at his base price of Rs 50 lakhs. CSK have traded Robin Uthappa from Rajasthan Royals (RR) and he is expected to open the innings with Ruturaj Gaikwad who was one of the finds of the previous season. Gaikwad smashed three successive fifties in CSK's last three matches of the tournament. Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni are three experienced batsmen in the line-up with several big-hitters in Ali, Sam Curran Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja to deliver the goods in the death overs. Gowtham is also a handy batsman lower down the order which will provide more depth to CSK's batting line-up. Dhoni will have plenty of bowling options at his disposal. Curran, Jadeja, Bravo and Gowtham are four names who are likely to feature in most of the matches for CSK in IPL 2021. It remains to be seen whether Imran Tahir, who featured in three matches last season, finds his place back in the side with the tournament returning to India. Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are the pace bowling options. Here’s all you need to know about the CSK squad for IPL 2021