Problems don’t seem to end for Chennai Super Kings, who had to leave their home stadium in Chepauk due to some unavoidable reasons. CSK will have to play their remaining six home games in Pune, which is now their home away from home. One of the key strengths of Chennai was the support they used to get at their home ground. With them having to leave their home, they certainly won’t have that strength anymore. However, batting coach Michael Hussey believes that MS Dhoni will bring in a lot of fans wherever he goes to play. Having played for Rising Pune Supergiant in the previous edition, Dhoni and few other players will help the team adapt pretty well or so Hussey believes.  

Dhoni had hurt his back on his way to a blistering 79 against Kings XI Punjab. Going into the next game, there were lots of questions regarding his fitness. With veteran Raina being already out of the team due to an injury, Dhoni’s exclusion would hurt CSK bad. Though, both the players had a go against the spinners in the nets, only Dhoni is likely to recover in time for the clash against Rajasthan Royals.

"So we are optimistic. He is at the training today. Much of the same with Raina. But he will have to go through training today, and then see how he is feeling. We are feeling pretty confident with both of them. I believe the bed was quite soft in Mohali, that may have stiffed up his (Dhoni) back a little bit and maybe through batting he aggravated it a little bit. He has improved ever since, so he should be fine."

Chennai had picked a spin-heavy squad to make full use of the slow conditions in Chepauk. CSK will now have to re-strategize, given the pace-friendly wicket in Pune. However, the former Australian player doesn’t seem concerned about the nature of the wicket and believes that their squad has enough depth to make necessary adjustments.

"We have to (adapt to these conditions). The team was based a lot on spin, based on Chennai conditions, but the conditions here may be very different, so we are going to have to adapt very quickly. I personally believe our squad has some nice depth in different areas. So I believe we can cover different scenarios depending on the conditions and we have got the quality to put out a very good team on the park."

CSK have provided the crowd with plenty of entertainment in the three games they have played so far. Appearing out of the match against Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, they bounced back in the game in the last moment and won it with the help of some crazy hitting from Dwayne Bravo and Sam Billings. In the third match as well, they almost pulled off a miraculous win after Dhoni went total berserk on Punjab bowlers. So, the common theme in all the three matches was to take the match right till the end and then, throw the kitchen sink at everything. CSK’s strategy is pretty much influenced by Dhoni, who, over the years, has applied this strategy to his game.  

"I guess there's been no one better than MSD over the years in timing the run chase. So I guess maybe the way he has played tilted through to how we have had success in chasing scores. Part of it is also keeping your cool under pressure. Sometimes you see the run rate getting up to 12 runs per over, you can panic a little bit and play some rash shots but certainly the MS way is to stay calm, take the game deep and give yourself every chance towards the end. All the games have been pretty exciting so far and I feel that the par score just seems to be raising a little bit, it's making it challenging for the chasers for sure," he added.