FIRST LOOK: CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Chennai Super Kings don yellow colored uniforms, which of course was the color of the Australian team’s jerseys till a few years ago. Co-incidentally, the man behind their success – they made the finals in the first edition, and the semis in the second – is also an Aussie: Matthew Hayden. The impact of this man’s presence in the side can be gauged from the fact that when he left in the middle of IPL 1 to resume his national duties, CSK slid to three consecutive defeats before winning four out of their next seven matches. This was after they had won their first four matches riding on some solid performances by Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey (another Aussie by the way).

An injury to Jacob Oram has nearly ruled him out of this edition of IPL. This means that their new buy this season, Justin Kemp, may get a look in. Let’s take a look whether the others measure up to the challenges that would be thrown at them.

Batting

Apart from Hayden, CSK’s batting will mainly revolve around MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. Hussey, if at all he comes to play, won’t be joining the team before halfway through the tournament. The supporting cast would include Parthiv Patel, S. Badrinath, Murli Vijay, George Bailey, Arun Karthik, and their new buy, Hemang Badani. Add to that the allrounders - Justin Kemp, Thissara  Perera, and Albie Morkel – and you have a batting lineup which can rattle up big scores provided the top four fire. Dhoni and Raina are in good form. Most importantly, Dhoni seems to have recovered his big hitting form; something which was missing last year. Michael Hussey may no longer be a part of the Aussie T20 team, but he still packs a punch and can be very useful if CSK lose early wickets. But he won’t be joining the team until after Australia’s tour of New Zealand. Hayden has not played any competitive cricket since IPL 2 which means that CSK cannot really count on him being in the same kind of form as he was in the last edition. Among the other batsmen, Parthiv Patel had a good domestic season. Whether he can translate that for in the shortest version of the game remains to be seen.  George Bailey too has had a good season in Australia, but he has not been too good in the T20 format. Badrinath and M. Vijay have done well not only in the Ranji trophy, but also in the Challengers trophy.  Hemang Badani may be a wild card here. Making a comeback to ‘official’ cricket from after a short, but moderately successful, stint in ICL, he can prove to be the experienced batsman that CSK need in the middle order till Hussey takes over. Kemp, like Badani, is making a comeback to the game and hence may take his time to settle in. Albie Morkel has been in and out of the South African side, and hasn’t really displayed the kind of form that compelled Chennai to pick him up. There are a lot of ‘buts’ in this batting lineup. If Chennai really want to make an impact in this edition, Hayden will have to come out with all guns firing.

Bowling

Bowling is one department where Chennai may lose out in this year. The lack of a spearhead may hurt them badly. True they have Ntini, but he’s not the force he used to be. Infact his poor form has resulted in him being dropped from the national side. His fellow Africans are not in great form either. Albie Morkel was carted around by the Indian batsmen in the ODI series, and Kemp is at best a slow medium pacer. Among the Sri Lankans, Murli is no a threat and most batsmen have sorted him out. Thilan Tushara and Thissara Perera can be backup bowlers at best, but not impact bowlers. That leaves the Indian bowling contingent, and the picture isn’t too rosy there too. Balaji is a spent force and Gony had a dismal second edition after impressing one and all in the first. But he’s had a good domestic season and Chennai will be hoping that he carries that confidence into the IPL. Under these dodgy circumstances, Chennai must be looking at Sudeep Tyagi and Shadab Jakati to deliver. Jakati had a great IPL 2, and Tyagi came good in the limited chances that he got. What’s more Tyagi was very impressive in the Challenger trophy, picking up three wicket in the finals to bowl out a side comprising of a lot of regular Indian players below hundred. Jakati too has done well this season. Both these two can be major impact bowlers for Chennai. And with the T20 world cup coming up right after IPL, Tyagi couldn’t ask for a better stage to impress the selectors. Dhoni also has the option of trying out the part-timers like Badani and Raina; and who knows they might turn a few matches around. Remember, the only hat tricks in IPL 2 came from the part-timers (Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma). But, looking at the overall picture, bowling is going to be a big headache for MS Dhoni, and he must be desperately hoping that his batsmen save the day for him.

Fielding

When a team does not have a great bowling attack, it’s imperative that the fielders give their bowlers utmost support. And Chennai do have the fielders who can do that. Hayden may be a big man but he can dive around as good as any compact and lithe man. Hussey is no sluggard in the field. South Africans are generally good in the field, and so are the Sri Lankans. Even among the Indian contingent, Raina is an excellent fielder, Badrinath and Vijay can field with gusto. The only suspect fielder may be Balaji. But then again, it remains to be seen how many games he gets given his current form. The interesting thing to see will be whether Dhoni dons the ‘keeper’s gloves or does he hand them over to Parthiv. All in all, if CSK are to restrict the opposition to a realistic score, then their fielders will have to be on their toes.

Final Verdict

As mentioned earlier, bowling may prove to be CSK’s undoing. However, in these shorter format of the game, a lot depends on how smart your captain is; and Dhoni is certainly smart enough to pull out a rabbit out of his hat when required. He has Stephen Fleming in the back room to help him. And Fleming has enough experience to turn the odds around with just a handful of stars in his team. Along with Hayden and Dhoni, he holds the key to CSK’s success.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

Parthiv Patel	Shadab Jakati	L Balaji
Matthew Hayden	Sudeep Tyagi	Manpreet Gony
M S Dhoni	Muttiah Muralitharan	Arun Karthik
S Badrinath	Murli Vijay	Mkhaya Ntini
Michael Hussey	Thissara Perera	Chandrashekhar Ganapathy
Suresh Raina	Thilan Thushara	R Ashwin
Hemang Badani	Justin Kemp	Jacob Oram (injured)
Albie Morkel	George Bailey