In this age and day of cricket, where every move is preceded with analytics, and permutation and combination, Chennai had shocked everyone at the mega-auctions by going for the bygone heroes. At a time when other sides were politely rejecting the uxorious likes of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, and Chris Gayle, CSK put their bets on the likes of Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, and Harbhajan Singh. But ask Stephen Fleming and he will tell you that he’d rather buy winners than wins.

UEFA Champions League winners for three consecutive seasons - Real Madrid are a similar side. Though they have exciting youngsters like Isco, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vaszquez and Raphael Varane, manager Zinedine Zidane knows that when the big occasion arrives, it is the experienced likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, who would step up and get the job done, no matter how much they are struggling for form all season. Their wins against giants like Paris Saint Germain, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool this season are a perfect testament to it. 

Their first match against Mumbai Indians saw crowd favorite Dwayne Bravo scoring a 30-ball 68 to get them to a last-ball win chasing a target of 166, while the second match saw Sam Billings pull off a brilliant 56 runs in 23 balls in his debut to clinch the game against KKR, which went to the 20th over again as CSK were chasing a mammoth total of 203. Then again a few games later against Royal Challengers Bangalore, when CSK had lost Watson, Suresh Raina, and Billings early while chasing a target of 205, the captain stepped up with a scintillating knock of 34-ball-70 to take the side home. In the first Qualifier, with the team reduced to 67/6, Faf du Plessis managed to pull them out in the most unexpected of fashions as the match finished in the 20th over, yet again. While many would call it luck, I call it the winning mentality - the element with which certain teams are made of. 

Their return to the league was celebrated like a festival in Chennai with the familiar yellow wave making the headlines yet again. But, as soon as the magic had started the Cauvery controversy led the side to change their fortress from Chepauk to Pune. In such a dire situation, where the whole team needed modifying their skills and the management, their strategies, as the auction buys were done keeping in mind Chepauk’s pitch, they needed their skipper to come to the fore.

The match saw a collective 409 runs scored by the sides together with no regards for the bowlers whatsoever, despite the bowling pitch. But, while the likes of Watson, KM Asif, and Bravo were struggling, Ngidi quietly did his job conceding 26 runs in four overs and bowling 12 dot balls in the match - the most by any from both sides. However, his best was yet to come. Before the league’s last game against Kings XI Punjab, which was sort of a must-win for both the sides for different reasons, Ngidi bowled the spell of his life. Punjab were dismantled in the powerplay overs itself as Ngidi broke sent Gayle and KL Rahul packing, as Ngidi finished the game with figures of 4/10, this time with 16 dot balls. Wankhede didn’t have the same pace, movement, and bounce like Pune but Ngidi conceded just 20 runs in four overs and bowled 10 dot balls. Though Deepak Chahar bettered him with 12 dot balls, he ended up conceding 31 runs and Dhoni must be eyeing a smooth bowling run with his two bowlers at top form.

Raina’s retention had probably cost CSK Ravichandran Ashwin, who captained KXIP this season, but one look at Raina’s runs in IPL finals and any team would want to have him with open hands. Raina’s runs in the most important games of the decade long tournament read 43 vs RR (2008 final), 57 vs MI (2009 final), 8 vs RCB (2011 final), 73 vs KKR (2012 final), 0 vs MI (2013 final) and 28 vs MI (2015 final). With good performances from Ngidi and Chahar almost guaranteed for Dhoni ahead of the final, Raina’s record come a huge boon for CSK ahead of the final.