What went wrong with CSK this year?
MS Dhoni’s Chennai are a pale shadow of their glorious past this season
Chennai Super Kings is one team that has made to the play offs in every season of IPL until now. This year is a complete surprise for the fans as CSK is unlikely to qualify for the playoffs, even though there are 3 games remaining for them to play.
It hasn’t been an easy year for the Chennai Super Kings franchise. Things haven’t been going well for CSK from the time they landed in UAE. It started with 14 members of the CSK camp testing positive for Covid 19, including two players. The biggest blows though were Suresh Raina leaving the team right before the tournament started and Harbhajan Singh deciding to not play the tournament this year due to personal reasons. These withdrawals have caused a significant imbalance in the team as Raina is an experienced all- rounder while Bhajji is a veteran match- winning spinner.
After winning the first match in a very convincing way, CSK lost their foot and were losing matches against every team. One of the main reasons is that their openers have not shown any intent of capitalising in the power play overs. Then there is the middle order that is heavily dependent on MS Dhoni, who has been winning games for them for so many years. Unfortunately he has been totally out of sorts and not been able to score the quick runs to gain momentum in the game.
This could be because he hasn’t played the game for more than 400 days since the world cup semifinal against New Zealand at Old Trafford on July 10, 2019. The skipper looks beyond his prime, which is hurting CSK as 8 out of 10 times Dhoni would chase stiff targets or set up a good target for the CSK team.
Dhoni was an inspiration for his team to such an extent that his performance used to lift the other players in the team. But this year, Dhoni not firing with the bat seems to have affected the team as well. Senior members like Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Dwayne Bravo haven’t performed to expectations so far. With the wickets slowing down, it is a surprise that the franchise has not yet picked spinner Imran Tahir in the playing 11, who was their highest wicket taker in 2019 IPL. CSK’s biggest strength all these years has been their spinners while playing on their home ground in Chennai. But here in UAE, their spinners have not been able to make their mark yet.
Another important factor affecting CSK is that they have not given opportunity to youngsters barring Sam Curran and most of the players are above 35 years and have not been able to cope with the heat here in the UAE and also have not adapted well to the conditions here. CSK’s squad does look tired and jaded and are not able to compete with the younger teams in this IPL.
Are we seeing along with MS Dhoni, the end of CSK’s dominance? Your guess is as good as mine.