Chennai Super Kings arguably the best team in the history of Indian Premier League. The team who has defined the word consistency like no other team in the long history of the tournament. 10 seasons 10 playoffs 8 finals – no other team has qualified for the finals number of times CSK did. 3 times IPL champions and 2 times champions league trophy winners. Numerous records have been set by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL history.
Talking about the current season of IPL Chennai Super kings was the first team to be out of the race of playoffs before even completing the league phase matches. This was the first time ever in the history of IPL that CSK has failed to qualify for the playoffs. The obvious thought would be the player like Suresh Raina who has been ruled out of the tournament before the start of the CSK campaign.
Yes, that's the big factor that CSK has failed to qualify because replacement of Suresh Raina is not possible in the coming years too. But still they have the best team to win the title for the fourth time. They have started their campaign with a victory against Mumbai Indians (MI) and looked confident to set the world on fire. However in the first half of the league Chennai super kings (CSK) only managed to win 2 games out of their 7 games. So the equation boiled down to if CSK were looking to qualify for the playoffs then they have to win at least 5 games of their remaining 7 games in the second half of the tournament.
But they have failed to do so in the tournament so they have 5 wins in 13 games with one more game to go but that would hardly matter to them. With 6 wins if they win their last game they can't qualify for the playoffs because the team at least has 8 wins to easily qualify for the playoffs. Let us say if they have 7 wins but still their net run-rate is worse from the other teams. So it clearly depicts a team has to win at least 8 games to qualify for the playoffs. Hardly there is time when a team qualifies for the playoffs with 7 games only if they have better net run-rate over others.
Having said that, let us take a look four reasons why Chennai Super Kings has failed to qualify for the playoffs:
The Right Team Combination In Most Of The Matches:
It's very hard to believe that a team like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has loopholes in finding the right combination of playing eleven. Even if Suresh Raina was not playing CSK team has other players like Shane Watson, Faf Du Plesis, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Ravinder Jadeja and the Captain like MS Dhoni to provide depth in the batting division.
Apart from the best experience players they have the best young talents in the form Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sam Curran but still they couldn't able to utilize the players abilities well enough in the matches some of them remain on the bench while other failed to perform and let CSK stuck at the bottom of the table most of the time during the tournament.
The CSK Bowlers Are Not Effective:
With the likes of Imran Tahir, Josh Hazelwood, Lungi Nigdi, Piyush Chawala, Sam Curran and Mitchell Santner. Before the start of the tournament there was a clear advantage for CSK as they have the best bowling division over the others in the league.
This time IPL is in UAE where spinners dominate over fast bowlers but with the start of the tournament in the first few games it was visible spinners have nothing on pitches of Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Purple cap holders are fast bowlers.
But still they have three best fast bowlers in the form of Josh Hazelwood, Lungi Ngidi and Sam Curran seems like they were bowling on the different pitches from other bowlers like Rabada, Archer, James Pattinson and Trent Boult who were nightmare for the batsman on the UAE pitches. Hardly there is bowler from the CSK team even in the top 10 purple cap holder.
Not Have Enough Young Talents:
This is to relate that a team like Delhi Capitals (DC) has been phenomenal in the last few years with the young talents in his side. In this year of IPL Chennai Super Kings has a good team but looking at the young talent in his team they have only Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sam Curran.
But Ruturaj Gaikwad was missing the first half of the tournament which perhaps affected the team where the experienced players failed to perform. If CSK had more depth in the batting division of young talents over players like Kedar Jadhav their picture of the points table could've been different.
MS Dhoni Finishing Factor Is Complete Missing:
If Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has been the most consistent team in the history of IPL then the factor like Dhoni is big reason behind that the domination. Either it is captaincy or individual performance Dhoni has been exceptional in the long history of IPL. Who has take the away the game away from the opposition with his whirlwind batting or defended the even decent target with his smart tactics.
But in this year of IPL this is complete missing although Dhoni was not in the action after the world Cup 2019 Semi-Final run out and sudden retirement from the international cricket was the clear message to every team that time Chennai Super Kings will set the world on fire. But that hasn't been seen the tournament so far either from team or from the captain. What's next for the CSK? Will they retain players like Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni in the next year of auction anymore? Will we going to see MS Dhoni playing again for CSK or perhaps for any other franchise or maybe not again on the cricket field?
Also Read | IPL 2020 is smashing viewership records
