IPL 2020 | CSK vs DC: Today I Learnt - CSK pacers > spinners, Prithvi-shattering innings and old-school CSK openers

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

09/25/2020

When Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina opted out of the tournament, CSK fans were still confident by their team but at this point, the batting unit has left the fans disappointed. However, Delhi were thoroughly professional in their approach, with Shaw and Axar Patel putting on a dominant show.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 175/3 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 64 and Piyush Chawla 2/33) beat Chennai Super Kings 132/7 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 41 and Kagiso Rabada 3/26) by 44 runs

CSK pacers outpacing their spin unit

When CSK bought the likes of Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood in the IPL auction ahead of the 2020 season, they might have not realised how useful it was going to be for them in the season. As it turned out, the CSK spinner couldn’t adjust to conditions in UAE and have struggled massively in the three games this season. On one hand, they have an ageing Piyush Chawla, who began on the right note but since then has just conceded more runs than making an impact. And then there is Ravindra Jadeja, who hasn’t quite yet managed to get accustomed to the conditions, where their pacers have struck 11 times compared to the spinners’ four. To make matters worse, Jadeja and Chawla average 47.50 and 49 respectively.

Prithvi Shaw needed that knock

As great as his knock looked like, Prithvi Shaw needed that innings to get going in the tournament after a bad start in the first game against Kings XI Punjab. While Punjab peppered him with short deliveries, which ultimately resulted in them getting the youngster out and back to the hut, CSK took a different approach - deciding to give him the ‘seam’ attack. When the bell rang and it was his opportunity to shine, the right-hander neatly shaved and dressed in his Delhi outfit came out and struck a more-than-cameo innings, which propelled Delhi’s opportunities against CSK’s attack. Eventually, he ended up with a score of 64 off just 43 deliveries, showing the Indian selectors that he still possesses the talent for which he was hailed during the start of his cricketing career.

Sam Curran’s CSK future looks clear

Dad’s army, just a bunch of cricketers over the age of 30 or as people popularly call them, the Chennai Super Kings. It all started post-Auction for the 2018 IPL when CSK decided to alter their approach on the Auction table, purchasing well - tried and tested veterans to do them the job in the next two years. Two years down the line, they realised that they need more youngsters, preferably all-rounders. While they couldn’t get Nathan Coulter-Nile, they went all guns blazing for Sam Curran, who by then was a well-known and household name in India, after his all-round display. He continued to get more and more fans after his cameo to win the men in yellow, his game against Mumbai. He’s currently the side’s top wicket-taker, showcasing that he is CSK’s ‘future.’

CSK openers still auditioning for a Test place

Shane Watson has completed 1000 IPL runs for CSK and so has Murali Vijay, both of them have shown the franchise that they are a capable bunch of openers. However, the game has evolved and evolved so much that these two look like CRT TVs in the era of LEDs. If CSK are looking at even competing against the top teams in the tournament, they need to look beyond the two openers, who seemingly are auditioning for a ‘Test’ place in arguably the best T20 tournament. Move on CSK, otherwise, you would find yourself in a place that no other T20 franchise has found itself in, scoring just 30 runs every time in the powerplay where both your openers and your middle-order seemingly don’t do anything apart from standing their place like wooden cutleries.

MS Dhoni and CSK need to sort their batting order ASAP

This is a question that would be on the minds of all Chennai Super Kings fans and for the right reason too. Clearly, the openers, consisting of Murali Vijay and Shane Watson. Later at No.3, they have Faf du Plessis, who is in between being an opener and playing the role of a finisher, surely he can’t be juggling between both the extremes. They have a talented Ruturaj Gaikwad, who finds himself in the wrong position every time following the openers’ terrible start. But the real mess is down in the middle order, where they have a plethora of batsmen - Sam Curran, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja but who bats where? Well, it’s a question even the CSK skipper hasn’t been able to answer. Jadhav is batting ahead of Dhoni and Jadeja is nowhere to be seen. While Curran is seen once as a pinch-hitter, he’s seen as a bowling all-rounder the other day, sorry MS, get your priorities and batting order right otherwise your ‘Midas’ touch is done and dusted!