CSK and IPL Success

This may be a topic that is not of topical interest with football fever all over – But this was something that has been on my mind to blog about – just the way the CSK team went about winning the title, inspite of being away from the league for two years.  Some of the things they did right are worth mentioning :

 Smart Buys :

When the auction was on to buy players , CSK team buys went unnoticed .  They did not go after big names or with those that were high potential based on form . Some of the buys may have been intriguing at that time . Cases in point could be that of Watson , Rayudu, Harbhajan , Deepak Chahar , Shardul etc – Debates rolled on in terms of why some of the thirty plus players for a short version of the game where speed and agility come in to play ?. Most of the critics wrote off CSK based on the team and its buys during the auction itself .  CSK surprised  all of them with winning the title.

Retention :

The team retained three that mattered and that they could retain and took a big gamble to let Ashwin go –and they picked Harbhajan –Strange move but did it work ? Yes Yes

They retained Mr. Cool MSD and Sir Jadeja  and Suresh   Raina – All of them chipped in at the right times with MSD playing stellar roles in most of the matches

The Thirty Plus Contribution

Mumbai Indians would have never dreamt of Rayudu firing so consistently for the CSK team. What a buy it turned out to be as was that of  Watson. Watson played two outstanding innings , one against Rajasthan in the initial game and then in the final against Sunrisers – He was useful with the ball as well. Bravo was steady in his contribution if not extraordinary ( His innings in the first match against Mumbai probably set the tone for CSK ). Watson and Rayudu delivered when it mattered in telling fashion.

It was not the Thirty plus alone – Contributions from Chahar , Shardul and Billings were timely all the time. Some players discover their best with the right team and these three found that form with CSK

The Dhoni Factor :

For the past two IPL’s MSD had been having  a low – He was stripped of his captaincy and most thought he had lost that ability of being a finisher and the big hitter . MSD changed all that in the 2018 edition. He scored more runs than ever in his previous IPL stints ( barring 2013 ) , led the team admirably , made all the right moves , including many out of the box changes that helped CSK regain lost glory. MSD came back to his usual form .As the season started , I looked at his body language and concluded that here is the man wanting to win the title and prove many of his critics wrong. And that his what he did.

Managing Change

CSK had to deal with the home ground change – With a new home out of Pune , where the playing conditions were different and not suited to the bowlers they bought considering Chennai conditions( Pune was more helpful to seamers while Chennai would have helped Spinners ) , the team had to mix and match the bowlers – they did this so well with MSD and Fleming playing their cards so well in understanding conditions and choosing the right team .. Dhoni did say that he wanted to stay with a stable team but the conditions made them chop and change every match . Just showed how to be agile and play to the condition .

Crowd Support

This was an amazing surprise factor – For a practice match within the CSK team at Chennai , close to 15,000 spectators turned up and that is crazy! The move of the home ground and scrapping of the matches in Chennai did not matter .. The Yellow army was there everywhere to support the team. CSK has earned  the tag of crowd pulling team thanks to MSD and also to it being one of the most successful teams in the league so far

Then ,there is always this talk of match fixing – How much ever the tongues can wag , no disputing the fact that CSK team did right things all the time leaving it the Champion once again. The fact they beat Sunrisers not once but four times just goes to show how getting a right balance  of the team mattered . Sunrisers was the most difficult team to beat – It had all-round strength but they could not challenge CSK even once

Remarkable journey for MSD and the team that came back after the ban that made them miss two editions of the IPL