A thriller at the Wankhede sees CSK topping the table

Earlier this month, before the start of IPL 2021, when I was analysing all the teams, I was pretty sure that on paper, Chennai Superkings looked the weakest. For starters, they had too many players in the lineup who had already taken retirement from international cricket. Secondly, they didn’t have any aggressive fast bowlers and they lacked penetration in the spin department too. All this made me feel that they would struggle. Adding to this, the scheduled prepared for this year ensured that they won’t play a single match in their home conditions, Chennai. Their attack supplemented the low and slow conditions of Chepauk’s pitch and hence when they lost their first match against Delhi Capitals, it was not very surprising for me. 

But, one aspect I discounted was the astute leadership skills of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Great leaders know the limitations of their teams and inspire their team members to go beyond their capabilities to get fabulous results. The last 3 matches have just amplified that fact. By winning 3 matches in a row, CSK not only surprised me and their fans, but I guess they surprised themselves too.

KKR after a good start has frittered away the advantage by first losing a match against Mumbai, which they should have won, and then got blown away by the magic of AB DeVilliers and Glenn Maxwell. But with the scene moving to Mumbai from Chennai and with Chennai not having a fearful attack, I was hopeful of a change of fortunes for KKR yesterday. As it turned out eventually, we were treated to the second-best match of 2021 which in the end didn’t mean much for KKR because they lost by 18 runs. So what were the hits and misses from yesterday at the Wankhede? Let’s have a look:

The Hits:

The best thing about Dhoni is the way he backs his players when they are down. Ruturaj Gaikwad had a terrible start with 3 back to back failures. But Dhoni backed him and he was rewarded back by a great knock. The cover drives that Gaikwad hit yesterday were classy and made you sit up and watch. A half-century with a strike rate of over 150 must give him a lot of confidence going forward in the tournament.

Faf Du Plessis has been a rock for CSK over the years. Seeing him bat, I wonder, why he retired. He along with AB DeVilliers can make a huge difference to the South African team in the world cup later this year. Yesterday he was not very fluent initially but changed gears rapidly towards the end. He remained not out at 95 runs and helped Chennai reach an unassailable 220 runs at the end of 20 overs.

A few days back, Deepak Chahar made the ball swing in a way as if we were playing in England. His 4 wicket haul ensured an easy victory for CSK against Punjab Kings. He was back in the same avatar yesterday and in the space of 3 overs, he removed 4 of KKR’s top-order batsmen to leave the opposition in tatters. I was surprised that Faf was given the man of the match award because as it turned out in the end it was not those additional runs that Faf scored which helped CSK to win – rather it was the initial breakthroughs that Deepak Chahar got made all the difference. After all, if KKR had not lost 5 wickets in the powerplay, I guess they would have chased that score down.

While the CSK batting was going on, some of my followers on Twitter was telling me that with Morgan, DK, and Russell any score is not safe on that pitch. I felt it was taking things too far because none of these batsmen has shown any kind of form this season. I was wrong in my thinking I must say because though Morgan failed, DK along with Russell brought KKR back into the match. 31/5 was the score in the 6th over when Russell joined Dinesh Karthick in the crease. In the next 6 overs, 82 runs were scored by these two leaving CSK in complete disarray. It was a counterpunch that we had got used to seeing from KKR in 2019. Till the time Russell was there, the impossible looked possible. A 21 ball 50 will give a lot of hope for KKR going into the next set of matches.

Once Russell got out, there was a collective sigh of relief in the CSK camp. But out of nowhere, rose like a phoenix – Pat Cummins. Cummins is a very underrated all-rounder mainly because of the huge batting strength of the Australian cricket team. He is not needed to bat most of the time so people fail to realise that he is more than a capable batsman. last season on two occasions he saved KKR from the blushes. Yesterday he had his worst day with the ball in his IPL career and probably he felt obliged to amend it with the bat. With the ball, he went for 58 runs in 24 balls and with the bat, he brought up his 50 in 21 balls. If this is not redemption, then what is? He eventually was left stranded on 66 runs but he helped KKR cross 200 runs and give the fans something to cheer about.

The change that CSK did in their lineup yesterday was the deciding factor in the match. They dropped Bravo and brought in Ngidi. Ngidi has pace and is a hit-the-deck type of bowler. I am very sure if Bravo was there in the team yesterday then this match would have been in KKR’s pocket. Ngidi was the only bowler who was not hit around the park in the middle overs and he ended up picking 3 wickets too. An inspirational change and this is what makes the Dhoni-Flemming combo such an interesting and dangerous combination in IPL.

The misses:

KKR has a lot of youngsters in their team, which should mean that the energy level in the field is high. But unfortunately, their fielding was in complete disarray. Add to that the number of no-balls and wides bowled by the team meant they ended up giving more than 20 runs on the platter to CSK. They finally lost by 18 runs so those slip-ups turned out to be too costly.

Earlier this year after Shubhman Gill got out for 91 runs during India’s successful chase in Brisbane, my good friend, Asif said that he foresees a century from the opener in the England series. Forget century, the bloke has hit only one half-century since and he is wasting opportunities like no other. In each of the matches, he looked good but couldn’t convert them into big scores. Yesterday he was out for a golden duck. For KKR to progress to the next stage, they would need Shubhman Gill in run-scoring form. Right now things look pretty bleak for him. It has been very disappointing thus far from him.

Eoin Morgan is a pale shadow of the batsman he is in International cricket. He is another of those stalwarts who are yet to click in IPL. KKR has a lot of hope in him but the way he is struggling doesn’t give much confidence. It would be interesting to see how long the patience holds for the team management with his non-performance.

This season I expected, Prasidh Krishna to be one of the stand-out performers in IPL. Cricket, after all, is a lot about confidence and mindset, and his coming into IPL with good ODI series against England made me believe that his confidence would be sky-high and he along with Cummins and Varun would help KKR change their fortunes this year. But unfortunately, it has not been so thus far. he had struggling way too much in hitting the right lengths. He has been going for a lot of runs in the middle overs and he is clearly struggling with fitness. Will he hold on to his place or will Mavi come back would be interesting to see going forward.

What to look forward to?

CSK has surprised everyone by reaching the top of the table. I do not think they need to do anything different than what they are already doing. It’s for the other teams to improve their performance otherwise CSK will be the surprise entry in the playoffs this year.

For KKR, they need to get an all-rounder in place of Nagarkoti. Having a bowler who is not confident to bowl his over overs doesn’t merit a place in the team. I think it’s better to give Venkatesh Iyer a chance. He is an all-rounder and him along with Nitish Rana and Andre Russell could very well take care of 4 or 5 overs. This would strengthen their batting line up too and compensate for the lack of form of some of their top-order batters.

Did you watch yesterday’s match? Was it the best one this year? What do you think? Do write in as the struggling Rajasthan Royals take on Royal Challengers Bangalore later today.

PS. Talent is overrated and skills are underrated. Do not get bloated with pride if you are very talented. Work on your skills and keep improving because talent doesn’t get food to your table – skill does!

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