The Chennai Super Kings are now officially the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention. This is precisely what’s happening in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Their season just got that much bleaker after falling in their eighth of the last ten encounters. The team went through a short, but sweet, overhaul of their top order by introducing the New Zealand international Rachin Ravindra and veteran Kiwi Devon Conway. Instead, their performance got worse.
Unfortunately for Chennai, their challenges deepened this year when captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over the captaincy after Gaikwad’s failure, but the squad still kept losing matches. Dhoni said he would try to make a difference in every match. “Whether with my bat or ball, whenever I go on the field I want to change the game,” he explained.
Struggles with Batting Performance
Chennai’s batting has come under intense fire for its conservativeness over the course of the tournament. The team has been consistently unable to cash in on scoring opportunities in powerplay and death overs. In their last game against Punjab, Chennai looked all set to go strong at 172-4 in the 18th over. They derailed and were bowled all out for 190 runs with four balls to spare.
Despite Sam Curran’s impressive performance, scoring 88 runs off 47 balls, the team’s overall batting strategy left much to be desired. Prior to this match, Curran had been in poor form throughout the tournament, with three single-digit scores. MS Dhoni had words of praise for Curran’s fighting spirit, and that willingness to bounce back would be critical in a frustrating season.
“In close games, seven (dot) deliveries mean a lot.” – Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Missed Opportunities and Critiques
Dhoni admitted that there were points during the competition where the team could have done more. He added that they compiled what seemed like a good number of runs on the surface. For him, they were all too still “a bit short” of a par score. This inefficiency became a factor in their eventual demise.
I thought for the first time we scored enough runs.” After the match, Dhoni said those words. A par score though? I think we were a bit under. This time around, such sentiments would reflect the team’s difficulty keeping an edge in must-win, high-stakes moments.
Chennai’s run rate of 8.23 is the lowest of any team in the tournament. They’ve been past the 27-team season total of 200 or more for just one game this year. This serves to underscore their fighting cow batting woes on so many levels.
Looking Ahead
As the season wears on, regathering and reconstituting presents Chennai with enormous challenges to plan and prepare for better-than-expected future showings. When it’s cold out, the team’s playoff dreams are as good as dead. Their priority now should be to rebuild and address where they fall short before next season.
Leave a Reply