The most natural thing would happen on March 23, when IPL commences and MS Dhoni and Co. take guard for their home match in Chepauk. CSK playing their home matches anywhere else apart from the MA Chidambaram Stadium, under the watchful and passionate eyes of the yellow wave, is an anomaly.

CSK’s strength would be the same that has always been the case with them. It is as if the Super Kings had found the answer even before the IPL started gaining momentum. It is having more and more Indian stars. While Mumbai Indians have perfected it over time, in Chennai’s case, it would be their core Indian batting order, revolving around which all their permutation and combinations work. 

While Jadhav has just started finding his footing only recently, both in IPL as well as the national squad, his offensive attributes in the shorter format are very efficient. Though his season was reduced by an injury last year, he has been quite handy for India and CSK would hope to get similar results from him. There’s a lot to be excited about Dhoni this season, especially after he showed signs of getting back his mojo last time. After firing almost blanks for four straight seasons, MSD stepped it up last season with three fifties, few match-winning knocks, and a strike rate of over 150.

Having these four would be a huge advantage for any IPL side. For CSK, Stephen Fleming could either open with Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson with the four to follow, or slot in Sam Billings in the middle by removing one of the above two and push Rayudu to open. With all-rounder David Willey also in the mix, Dhoni could be promoted up to build the innings while the others help him at the end to finish things off.

CSK’s only weakness, which has been further exacerbated by the departure of Lungi Ngidi’s muscle injury, is the lack of wicket-takers. The main bowlers on CSK’s roster are as follows – Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur, and Mitchell Santner. And the first thing that comes to the mind is none of them could put in the fear of death in batsmen. The only bowler who looked to have done that was Ngidi after he picked up 11 wickets in seven matches.

While CSK’s available options are pretty great at checking runs, there has to be someone at the other end to send batsmen back to the pavilion from time to time. Though CSK are yet to announce a replacement for Ngidi, they would be forced to use Watson and Willey to partner with Thakur and Sharma to get the scalps. This leaves Fleming with a lot to experiment with in the initial matches, something that could be a big ask in the latter stage when they would be needed to win five of their last five matches.

So, what does CSK have that other teams don’t? It is MS Dhoni. Having someone who could temporarily upgrade an average bowler to the team’s advantage is in a way, magical. CSK might be a having a gaping hole in their bowling lineup as far as wicket taking is concerned, but they also have a genius standing behind the stumps who could make a 38-year-old Bhajji look lethal. Factor this -  not bowling with Dhoni behind the stumps in 2016 and 2017, Jadeja had taken eight wickets and five wickets respectively with an economy of 7.74 and 9.18. Last season, Jadeja took 11 wickets with his lowest economy of last seven IPL seasons – 7.39. Apart from the spinner, Dhoni excels at exploring his bowling options and with terrific efficacy. Hence, with Jadhav, Watson, Raina all waiting to pitch in, CSK are bringing in with them more mysteries than opponents could possibly imagine.

Barring this, CSK’s ageing squad also has an edge over other teams in terms of the number of World Cup probables. Barring Dhoni and Jadhav, who are most definitely in the 15-man squad, the likes of Rayudu and Jadeja are the only players who would be having an eye on the tournament. Fortunately, as far as the bowling department goes, CSK won’t have to worry much about workload management.

Experience is a tricky abstract. While some call it invaluable, others merely use it just as an excuse for their past mistakes. Whichever way one turns, experience doesn’t come without age on its back and that is exactly CSK’s biggest threat. Having a squad with an average age of 30 means injuries are around the corner and one injury to a key player could see the priced ship crumbling down. 

While a relatively young Jadhav had to pull out with injury last season, Dhoni had given the crowd a huge scare with a back injury he was seen playing with. Players like Harbhajan and Raina have also been out of action from the highest level for long now and maintaining the same intensity could be difficult. Hence, while Stephen Fleming could be adamant about CSK not needing Yo-Yo test, the truth is that at the end of the day T20 is all about fine margins and CSK won’t be getting match-winners in every game season after season.

MS Dhoni (C), Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Mohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Asif KM, N Jagadeesan, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, David Willey and Mitchell Santner. 

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