Keeping the core unperturbed key to CSK’s success, believes Albie Morkel
Former Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Albie Morkel, who was part of CSK’s IPL winning team in 2010 and 2011, believes that the key to the team’s success is the management keeping the side’s core intact. Morkel also feels that Dhoni’s versatility as captain also played a key part in CSK’s success.
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.
Albie Morkel, who was a core member of the dominant CSK side that won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, has now stated that it’s this very mantra - of having a strong core and not chopping and changing - that has contributed to the side’s success.
“I think if you look at the history of CSK, they sort of kept their main, core players together. So the guys were really comfortable with each other. By then we had won the tournament once or twice, we won the Champions League. So we knew our games, we had a very good team spirit on and off the field. That's something that most of the other teams were sort of lacking,” Morkel told Cricbuzz.
“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.”
The South African all-rounder also noted that Mumbai Indians started becoming successful after replicating CSK’s ploy of holding the core players together.
“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.
“That's the main reason, and obviously a strong leader in Dhoni - he's settled with the conditions, he's settled with how to get the best out of the bowlers and how to read a situation and captain accordingly. He had certain plans but he captained definitely on what he saw every game on the field.”
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