Keeping the core unperturbed key to CSK’s success, believes Albie Morkel

Whilst the Indian Premier League (IPL) has revolved around teams rebranding, restructuring and resetting themselves in order to crack the code for success, one team that has stayed true to its value ever since the tournament’s inception is Chennai Super Kings. The Chennai-based franchise, since 2008, have maintained a strict yet simple policy of keeping their core intact - evident from their purchases and RTMs in the 2018 Mega Auction - and this has turned out to be a ploy that has worked like a charm for the Men in Yellow.

“They kept on changing their personnel, new players every year. It's tough to build on that, especially if the playing field is not level anymore. You get a new team coming every year, with new players and when you play against a team that's sort of settled and got a set game plan then it becomes tough to beat them.”

“So for the first six years that was definitely our strength. And that's why Mumbai also became a strong team. They followed the same sort of trend where they keep the core of their senior or good players and they build around that.”

Morkel, whose wicket off Kieron Pollard turned the game around in CSK’s favour in the IPL 2010 final, also stated that MS Dhoni’s captaincy contributed a lot to the Yellow Army’s success. The 38-year-old revealed that despite having plans prior to the game, Dhoni always improvised and made his decision according to match situations, something that bailed CSK out of trouble many a time in the club’s history.