Finisher’s Team Finished?
“IPL is where 7 teams fight each other to play in the finals with CSK.”The famous quote that was referred to CSK whenever they play IPL. 10 playoffs and 8 finals as the record speak itself, IPL 2020 was the unsuccessful campaign in their history. But what went wrong? They had their captain MSD, they got the pitches suitable like Chennai, they bought some good picks in the auction still the results didn’t go in their favor.
Aging Squad
Csk knew this day will come. Daddy’s army can’t be young forever. Yes, experience counts a lot but still, you need fresh blood. CSK is known for its consistent selection, but all things have its pros and cons. Doing by this they never had backup players. In 2020 young players got the chance but it was too late for them.
No replacement for star players
CSK were most affected by the covid-19. They had to remain in quarantine for a longer period of time compared to other teams. Also at the last moment, their star players Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulled out citing personal reasons. CSK opted not to go for replacement. It did hurt them also CSK can’t be blamed for this as there were no experienced players in the unsold player's list.
Dhoni ACES-spinners where were they?
CSK's success largely depends on its spinners. For the spin resources, they brought Piyush Chawla. An experienced spin unit consisting of Chawla, Tahir, Jadeja, Karn, Sai Kishore, Santner was considered to boast on pitches like Dubai which was considered that it will get tired and would help the spinners. But the spinners were unable to take wickets on regular basis. They had a simple plan bowl Chahar upfront get wickets in the powerplay, choke the opposition in middle overs. But the spinners never came to the party. Either they leak too many runs or were unable to pick up wickets.
Team Combination
CSK is known for very few changes in there starting lineup. But this time the stats were different. They had to tinker with their lineup a lot which meant there was no stability.
Too slow in the powerplay
Vijay-Hayden, Vijay-Hussey, Smith-Mccullum the destructive opening pairs that CSK had in past years. Even if one player was struggling the other was there to cover up. But in IPL 2020 Watson-Faf were too slow in powerplays, they both struggled and if one wanted to break the shackles they would end up by giving their wickets. They tried Sam Curran at the top, it gave mixed results but that's not the CSK is known for, too many experiments and it didn’t go in their favor.
So CSK finished?
That’s the most illogical thing to say for a team like CSK that has Dhoni. No doubt they have to bring in new players build up a new core and I think they have started the work in that process. There were few positives too biggest was Sam Curran. Maybe he is the next Albie Morkel for CSK, who can swing the ball upfront and get that quick runs.
As Harsha Bhogle said Come on @ChennaiIPL, everyone has favourite teams and affiliations but everyone admire #CSK
