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Opinion

IPL 2020 preview: Chennai Super Kings

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Roar Guru
4th March, 2020
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Ah, Chennai – the capital of Tamil Nadu.

It’s home to some of India’s finest Test spinners in Lakshman Sivaramakrishnan and Ravichandran Ashwin. Yet when it’s IPL fever, the whole of Tamil Nadu unanimously chants one name.

He wears the number 7 jersey and finished off the 2011 World Cup in style. Yes, you guessed it right, it’s captain MS Dhoni. Nicknamed “Thala” (meaning captain or leader in Tamil) by the Chennai faithful, Dhoni will be looking towards the IPL to not only win this tournament but also force his way back into the Indian T20 setup.

Chennai’s IPL 2020 squad
Batsmen: Murali Vijay, Faf Du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu

Keepers: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Narayan Jagadeesan

All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Curran

Seamers: Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Monu Kumar

Spinners: Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore

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How they fared in 2019: Runners-up
Chennai’s 2019 campaign was flawless at the start with seven wins from eight games. But they would falter at the latter stages with only two wins in their last six and missing out the top spot on net run rate to the Mumbai Indians.

The men in yellow would lose the first qualifier at home to Mumbai but defeat the Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier before losing the final to Mumbai by just one run.

Chennai’s main aim during the IPL auction was to strengthen their vulnerable pace attack and they have achieved that with the additions of Glenn Mcgrath 2.0 (Hazlewood) and exciting English all-rounder Curran. They have retained the core players that have been involved with the franchise since the beginning of the IPL or from 2012 onwards.

Strengths: Experienced core, spinners
When Chennai came back into the IPL after a two-year hiatus in 2018, many questions were raised about the ageing squad they had retained. The answer to their critics?

Winning the 2018 edition and following up with being runners-up last year. Experience matters in tournaments and Chennai certainly has plenty of that. Not only do these international stars have plenty of experience in international cricket, but also they have played plenty of games together.

Someone like Du Plessis has played enough matches with Watson, Jadeja and Bravo to practically know their games inside out. That’s how tight-knit these players are.

The belief that the Chennai players have in each other is extraordinary. If Watson or Du Plessis don’t step up, Suresh Raina or Ambati Rayudu will.

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If Bravo fails to fire at the death with the bat, Jadeja will hit a quickfire 20 odd in ten balls. Once again for this season, Dhoni and his men will rely on his experienced campaigners to step up in crunch games.

Chennai’s MS Dhoni

(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

The pitches in Chennai have always favoured the spinners so it should be no surprise that once again, Chennai has a world-class spin attack. While many may question the addition of Chawla to their spin stock, it seems very logical to me.

Rather than bowling sliders on a green top in Kolkata, he’s now going to be able to bowl his variations as the pitches will suit him more now. Indian internationals in Singh and Sharma alongside the oh-so reliable and enthusiastic Tahir shows Dhoni has a strong set of spinners to rely upon at home.

Although Santner and Jadeja are classified as all-rounders, the duo have played as sole spinners for their respective nations in Test and one day cricket – thus showing their effective capabilities as spinners.

Weakness: Batting
While it isn’t necessarily a straight out weakness, Chennai’s batsmen were less consistent than usual last season. No Chennai batsmen finished in the top ten run-scorers in the 2019 IPL edition, with only Dhoni (who came 13th with 416 runs) the closest to being in the top ten.

Dhoni won’t say it publicly, but he’ll want his top order to be more consistent and at least one of the top four to have a 500+ season like they have been able to achieve in the past. One man who I think will be interesting to watch is Raina. The left-handed batsman has had a problem with the short ball since he started international cricket.

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As the 33-year-old’s reflexes start to become slower, it’ll be fascinating to watch if he can play the short ball better and emulate the golden run he had in the IPL in the past decade and get a shock call up into the Indian T20 team.

Predicted XI
Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur/Harbhajan Singh (depending on conditions)

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Verdict
Chennai has a very strong home record and that could determine whether they make the playoffs. In last year’s edition, they won only three out of seven games away while winning six out of seven games in Chennai during the regular season.

If they aren’t as dominant at home this season, they could miss out on playoffs however, I highly doubt that. They should make playoffs but reaching the final could be one step too far. Maybe Chennai’s experienced core could prove me wrong.

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