Chennai Superkings— The ageing lions need an immediate revamp!
Probably the most popular team with the biggest fanbase — Chennai Superkings faced a tough time facing a 2 year ban, the team assembled back in 2018 with immediate results getting back in the groove. While it may have worked very well in 2018, worked extraordinarily well in 2019 but what went wrong in 2020?
Chennai Super Kings, better known as Dhoni’s Army, was built on the fact that there was always going to be a Mega Auction in 2021, where they will seemingly take a different approach, a stance that they have always taken prior to their ban, where there would be a team mixed of youngsters and active cricketers. Till the time, Chennai were still bossing on the grass at Chepauk with their tremendous spin-unit, the batting never seemed to be in question. Even more so, when Dhoni himself led by example, scoring 871 runs in two seasons, batting low down the order, it was never bound to be questioned, so what really changed?
Until then, the three-time IPL winners never needed to take a different approach, given that they were sure-shot playing seven games at home, where the conditions would be intolerable and hard for the opponents. You might have the best of spin units but on the day, the men in Yellow with the crowd behind them will make you look like a muppet and that worked for two seasons, brilliantly till the frailties slowly started turning into insecurities for the fans. The team still believed in the process, one that gave them immediate results but fate had it differently, as the 2020 IPL was shifted to UAE.
As fate had it, fans could not fathom they suddenly found themselves at the extreme end of the table, eight in what was a shocker but should it? It shouldn’t because the team’s major plan or process was not just ‘Thala’ will take care of it but more importantly, Chepauk will take care of it. That’s the reasoning behind why they went with more spinners and seemingly made other teams jealous of their spin-unit and a few others laugh at the choices that could make them spoilt! But where is the Plan-B?
CSK never had a Plan B, never, they were always going in with the assumption that Chepauk and Dhoni will handle it on their own, both of which didn’t go their way. Neither did they get Chepauk nor did they get a firing Dhoni, instead they got a bluffing one. Then arrived the moment of truth, was this team good enough to take on the strong favourites? It looked like they could but it was all a farce if anything this team was a mere reflection of the sporting talent available to them at the Auction. This team never needed more experience, they needed a spark, they needed talents, who would create that thunderous clap, were they there? We would never know, as the franchise seemingly were hell-bent on going back to Plan A, which miserably failed and you are allowed to criticise the process because the results didn’t support it!
It shouldn’t come as a surprise now, legends say that some fans are still celebrating the 2010 and 2011 IPL wins, built on the philosophy this team badly needs. They need that hunger, it’s all about the hunger games, in the end, the team which is more hungry will take away the delicacy. So what do they do now to salvage this season? None, they could try out the best of talents for the rest of their season and will still end up in the bottom half, such is how the teams have developed themselves while CSK are still like the Nokias’ of the technology world. Irrespective of the Mega Auction, the franchise needs to go out and get those youngsters, who Dhoni trusts, who he thinks he has seen enough of to be world-beaters.
Or, in worst-case, if Dhoni is going to call it a day, well he does surprise from time-to-time, they would have to go back to the players who would take them back to doing the right things. Watson was good, Bravo was good and all the others too were excellent but the fact is, at these times, a change often does more good than worse, and it is right to be critical and not blind. When Bravo wasn’t there on the field, CSK struggled to find the momentum towards the back end, why leave it till the worst? In 2018, the franchise knew that their fielding was always going to come under the radar but in 2020, the skipper is going out and defending them for their ‘age,’ somewhere something as minor as the defence must change.
If batting does them no good, why not just go all-out on bowling, wouldn’t that too fancy them wins? But at the moment, they neither want to go for the win or change their plans, which is rigid and not working! “As long as you’re alive, you’ll always have a Plan B,” unfortunately for CSK they neither are alive in the competition nor really seem to be having a Plan B, which has worked! This CSK team for the last three years thrived under the pressure of always chasing things, be it targets, be it wickets or runs but now the ‘I will chase’ approach is not working, they need to start taking things early and not leave it late, so before the 2020 season, the ball is in your court, CSK, either start early or get doomed chasing late!
