Shaw & Dhawan combine together to brush aside Chennai Superkings

IPL moved to Mumbai yesterday where Chennai Superkings met last year’s finalists, Delhi Capitals. With Suresh Raina back this season, Chennai’s middle order looks better, though the biggest attraction of any match involving Chennai Superkings is always Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Delhi without the services of their captain, Shreyas Iyer had a gap to fill and the bigger challenge was how would Rishabh Pant, the captain for this year cope with the new responsibility. Delhi Capitals had another problem in hand with both Rabada and Nortje serving mandatory quarantine which meant on paper their bowling looked slightly weaker than it actually is. It was of course a good opportunity for CSK to put up a big score when Rishabh Pant invited them to bat after winning the toss.

So let’s look at the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

1. Prithvi Shaw: He has had a tough couple of years and lost his place in the Indian team too. But he had a terrific domestic season scoring over 800 runs in the recently concluded CK Nayudu trophy. I expected him to carry that form to  IPL and he didn’t disappoint.  He has tremendous hand-eye coordination which allows him to play shots even against perfectly pitched deliveries. One crunching cover drive against Sam Curran and a lofted shot which went for a six over long-on against Deepak Chahar drove home the point. He played in one gear throughout the match and when he finally got out after scoring 72 runs off 38 balls Delhi Capitals were well on to their way to victory. 

2. Shikhar Dhawan: last season Dhawan roared back to form after an indifferent start with a majestic century against CSK. His eyes must have lit up after seeing CSK as Delhi Capital’s first opposition in 2021. Some people have this happy knack of playing well against certain oppositions and for Dhawan, CSK seems to be that team. He had a pretty good ODI series against England and he continued in the same zest yesterday. Pulls, drives, cuts all were in equal display and he looked all set for a century but got out for 85 runs leaving Delhi Capitals on the cusp of victory.

3. Suresh Raina: Suresh Raina missed out the last season and CSK missed him terribly. I was interested to see if he could have an impact this year especially after retiring from international cricket. But from the time he took the crease, it didn’t feel like that he has not played for so long. His trademark lofted strokes were back and he was particularly severe on the spinners. In the process, he brought up his half-century which incidentally was the first 50 of IPL 2021. Suresh Raina is back and his fans must be doubly thrilled seeing the way he batted yesterday.

4. Sam Curran: If there is one player whom I like to watch from England it’s Sam Curran. He plays well when his team requires him the most and he showed that in the last ODI against India too. Last season he played some matches as an opener for CSK and got a limited amount of success. Yesterday he was held back for the slog overs and it was his clean hitting towards the end that took CSK to 188 runs by scoring 34 runs off 15 balls.

5. Avesh Khan: He was the surprise package yesterday for Delhi Capitals. I expected Umesh Yadav to play and hence I was particularly surprised to see Avesh getting a game ahead of both Ishant and Umesh. But his bowling throughout the match showed why he got selected. His excellent control over line and length kept all the batsmen in check and with wickets of Faf DuPlessis and MS Dhoni to boot, Avesh Khan is set to have a longer run in the playing XI this season. 

6. Chris Woakes: Rishabh Pant missed a trick by under bowling Woakes yesterday. That one over cost Delhi Capitals at least 15 runs because Woakes finished with 2/18 in 3 overs whereas Tom Curran went for 1/40 in 4 overs. Woakes made the ball swing from the word go and his wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad was a dream wicket for any swing bowler. An over in the middle overs when Raina was going great guns would have stifled CSK surely.

So what were the misses?

1. Before the tournament started, one aspect that I was keen to look at was India’s spinning options when it came to white-ball cricket. Ashwin has had a terrific test cricket season this year but when it comes to white-ball cricket he ends up doing too many experiments. He was trying too many variations yesterday and both Raina and Rayudu took full toll against him. The same was the condition of Amit Mishra too. Mishra particularly lacked pace and with smaller boundaries, in the Wankhede, he went for plenty too. All spinners across both the teams had a very ordinary outing yesterday.

2. IPL is the only occasion when we could see MSD play. I was looking forward to his batting but he failed miserably scoring a two-ball duck. Forcing the pace right from the start is difficult for Dhoni and I always felt number 3 or 4 is the best place for him to bat. Unfortunately coming lower down the order only makes things difficult for him. I hope he plays in the top order in the future matches

3. Ruturaj Gaikwad had a great finish last year and it was good to see that CSK started with him. But he failed to deceive getting out to a lovely outswinger against Woakes. He missed a simple catch in the outfield too giving life to the rampaging Prithvi Shaw. With CSK boasting a long batting order, I hope he doesn’t get dropped to accommodate a wicket-taking bowler. He needs to make his opportunities count.

What to look forward to?

With Rabada and Nortje coming back from the next match it would be interesting to see how Delhi Capitals accommodate them. With Woakes and Avesh doing so well it’s an interesting choice on their hands. Delhi is blessed with plenty of riches warming the bench and no wonder they are one of the favourites to win the tournament this year.

My predicted playing XI for the next match: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, Marcus Stoinis, Vishnu Vinod, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje,  Avesh Khan.

With Dwayne Bravo coming in at number 9 and Shardul Thakur at 10, it’s a case of having too many options with the bat for CSK. They need a couple of bowlers who can force the issue because in their current XI they have too many holding bowlers. I would suggest getting Ngidi and Tahir or Karn Sharma in the playing XI. How they accommodate them and who gets sacrificed would be an interesting watch.

Here is my predicted XI for the next match. Faf Du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Curran, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ngidi.

Delhi Capitals look very strong and would be the team to beat this season. With Rabada and Nortje back they would become more balanced and I don’t see any problem in them reaching the playoffs.

For CSK unfortunately this is not looking good. I think this would be another season where they will miss out on reaching the playoffs. I am sure though that MSD will have some tricks which he will bring out from his bag in due course. Raina needs to have a stellar IPL for CSK to be competitive this year.

So what do you think should be the way forward for CSK? Do you think Prithvi Shaw will be able to bring consistency to his game? Who impressed you the most yesterday? Did you get surprised with Avesh Khan’s performance?

Do write in as I gear up to watch my favourite team KKR take the ground later today.

Stay blessed everyone. Keep enjoying the moments that life throws up to you. Live to your fullest and keep following the journey of the 12th man!

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