The year 2020 has shown us that anything can happen.
The Dream11 IPL 2020 started on the 19th of September, and people had this query regarding the Chennai Super Kings team, whether the Whistle Podu army would be able to make it to the IPL finals. Slowly people started thinking whether CSK can make it to the Play-offs, and after watching their recent performances, fans and experts have begun questioning, will the Chennai Super Kings be able to finish off matches.
So, what has gone wrong with the Chennai Super Kings this season?
- Indian Youngsters: The new young Indian talents have been making a name for themselves for all other IPL franchises; unfortunately, the CSK young talent hasn’t had too many opportunities to showcase their talent.
- IPL In UAE: The CSK magic isn’t working on the UAE pitches. Chennai Super Kings have always had a habit of starting slowly, but they made sure they finished their innings well on Indian pitches. CSK used to defend under par totals on Indian pitches, but here in UAE, they have been not able to defend good scores.
- No Suresh Raina: The team management might not agree, but deep within, all of us know how badly the CSK team is missing Mr. IPL Suresh Raina. He not only scored runs, but he also provided the much-needed balance to the squad. CSK were able to rotate their overseas batsmen according to the situation. At present, CSK does not have any good Indian Batsman.
- Fielding: Chennai Super Kings have not had a gun fielding unit for the past few seasons, but that got managed by the team’s good performances. Unfortunately, when their batting and bowling departments are not clicking, CSK’s fielding looks a great concern now. They dropped several catches and allowed opposition batsmen to score big.
- Perfect 11: Chennai Super Kings haven’t found out their best playing 11 yet. The purple cap winner in the year 2019, Imran Tahir, hasn’t been selected in the 11. Dwayne Bravo came into the tournament with an injury he sustained during the CPL, Bravo hasn’t done much with the bat yet, so it was important to replace Bravo maybe with Josh Hazlewood or Imran Tahir, who are complete bowlers. Rayudu, after his 1st game, got injured, which also didn’t do any good to the CSK squad.
- Inconsistency: Most of the players haven’t been consistent for the team; Faf Du Plessis and Sam Curran can be exceptions. In the early part of the season, Watson and MSD weren’t firing and hasn’t hit the 5th gear yet, along with Jadeja’s bowling inconsistency.
- Execution: The most crucial part of the CSK winning formula over the years was the execution of plans by the skipper and the players collectively, but that hasn’t been the case this year. Batting order, bowlers bowling according to plans, and the slog overs’ economy rate, nothing had gone the CSK way this year.
Chennai Super Kings are in a must-win situation from here on to qualify for the Play-offs. A lot of other matches’ results have to go in their favor, which is definitely a big ask.
As a CSK fan myself, I still believe the team can pull this off, but even if they don’t, that doesn’t take away their hard work being put in and not forget this may be the last time we see MS Dhoni on the field, so enjoy the experience.
I hope the Lions would roar again.
